ANST - Hack? Or Skilled Wordsmithing!

[Mike C. Baker]

>Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra suggested:
>> (paraphrase) "Any hack can slavishly follow the dictates
>> [of] a form already in existence. A true <artist> CREATES."
> Dear Amra, though I much respect you as a thoughtful correspondent and as
an artist, I must
> heartily, emphatically, and passionately disagree!

OK, Gunnora, OK.  I give, already, I give! <gryn / giggle> I consider myself
slapped appropriately for not tempering / adjusting / more thoroughly
stressing
the opportunities which remain in the classical forms such as you suggested.

I'll reserve my right to be curmudgeonly at the appropriate times later, of
course.

>Try writing a perfect sonnet -- and if that was too easy, try creating a
sonnet so that the
>first letter of each line spells a word or name when read down the poem.

Have done all three at least once.  May not still have the finished product
on hand
(high school was a FEW years ago).

> Try writing perfect alliterative skaldic verse -- be careful, as it has
EXACT
> requirements for how many syllables are present and which ones can (or
> must be) stressed and unstressed, and don't forget to use layered kennings
> that can sometimes run four or more images deep.

Still delving into the intricacies here after sitting in on an excellent
wInterKingdom
presentation by Mikal the Ram some years back. (Actually, I've got a kenning
of
at least four layers / branchings [if not five-plus] going into a modern
fiction I'm
working on right now: consider "Feast" as a use-name _and_ kenning
associated
with a woman warrior... )

I'll add two or three challenging variations on the theme:
sonnet in 14 lines, all lines END to form target word or -- even more
devious,
by my lights -- all lines END in the same rhymeform / word

"Blended" effort which meets all the pertinent rules for two forms from
the same or "close-contact" cultures. Example: composition in an
_early_ sonnet or other recognizable rhymed "English" form also
meeting at least the primary requirements for skaldic alliteration
and layered kennings if not the full adherence to the accepted stress
patterns [still in my notebooks, unfinished]

Regarding those alliterative forms (among others), and the concept
of "recognized mastery": my sources indicate that there were
several cultures which withheld the highest accolades until the
individual poet / skald / bard / whatchumcallhir had created at
least one new form -- generally within yet another broader ruleset,
but still creation of more than just words/tune/dance matching
an existing pattern.

A few other specific items from your chastisement (To The Audience:
no offense taken, folks, the word applies in its meta-sense and I accept
thereby the constructive commentary of a fellow word-binder in the
context and with the intent by which I am sure they were offered).

>If you think it's easy or simple to wordsmith so that  you create a new
poem so that it
>perfectly follows a period form, think again.

O no, nay, never at all did I believe otherwise.  I know how hard it is from
direct personal experience, and work hard to maintain my poetic
license so that I can continue to mangle the language to match my will
when it is needful to do so.  I may be out of regular practice, I may not
recall lettre-pervekt the specifics of more obscure forms I've dabbled
in only occasionally, but I'm a Bard first, foremost, and always.

Even when I don't remember to include all of the caveats, disclaimers, and
counter-arguments in a given missive.

> Any hack can slap together loose verse.  Wordsmithing a poem to the
> dictates of a rigid form requires true artistry.  You have to make EVERY
> word count, you must select the exact right word to both convey your
> meaning and to fit the form.  It ain't easy, but it IS rewarding.

Yes on all counts.  I did not mean, really, to overstate otherwise -- except
as to present the
counter-argument to the "even performance pieces must be documented, even
when
the method of presenting the documentation overwhelms or detracts the value
of the
actual performance".

For any who might think that I don't do documentation, think again.  The
major
research paper on "What *IS* A Bard?" runs at least 37 footnoted pages plus
appendices, bibliography, and presentation notes _before_ the revisions
going
into it currently... overdue, seriously overdue revisions long promised.
"Life happens."

Err, Gunnora? Are you one of the people I promised a revised copy to?
I've had several systems yanked from under me by one circumstance
or another, and I'll just be making general announcements as to
availability here, on the A&S, Minstrel, and some other mailing lists
when the revision is complete and ready for distributions.

Back to the paraquote one more time, can I plead "conceptual shorthand"
and lack of sleep / time?  And then I ramble on tonight as well...

Geez, rough crowd! <VBEG & wink>

Mike C. Baker
SCA: Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra
"Other": Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard)
My opinions are my own -- who else would want them?
e-mail: kihe at ticnet.com OR kihe at rocketmail.com



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