[Bards] On various specimens of Draco Verde.

[Peter Schorn]

>Yep -that was me... 'Stan light'. Afraid you heard me in pretty meager
>voice at the war. 

*That* was "meager voice?!"  Good God man, what are you mundanely--the
foghorn at Sault-St.-Marie?  ;oD

>Truly (or you might know here as Eleanor - my wife - late of your
>homeland) and I were both fighting awful colds and while I managed to
>feel up to singing by Tues or so, Tru didn't get her voice back until
>this week really.

I'm sorry to hear that: I would have greatly enjoyed hearing your lady wife
sing.  I'm glad to hear she's feeling better, though, and I look forward to
hearing her on another occasion!

>I might just see what I can do with the music. Thanks.

Again, more than welcome, and I look forward to hearing whatever you may
think up :o)

>My thought about the change I suggested (if you do want to consider
>adding a verse), and to pick up on Robin's very clear point about the
>seasons, is to suggest that you might move the Fleet street and Gleann
>Abhann bits ahead a verse to autumn and winter and put in an 'American'
>verse about a dragon waking and then do exactly what Robin 'kind of'
>suggested - bits about July 4 might be of use - I expect something about
>'Tea' (or how no one drinks Tea at the Dragon) might be fun as well -
>but I don't want to impose the lyric on you -just the concept:)

>Then the last verse could be set in the "ending of the year" or "the
>closing of the year". I think the piece, as a song, could easily have 5
>verses and it feels more complete to me to have a full life of seasons
>and then the ending, which is outside the seasons (I love your reference
>to the Low road there - a lovely allusion to both FaerieLand and Death).

I've read you suggestions through several times, and having thought about
them I must say they have a lot to recommend them.  And the Green Dragon of
Boston would be a worthy subject for any poem.  But if I were to attempt a
poem about it, it would have to be an entirely different poem.

Because, you see, Tolkien's Green Dragon, and Chesterton's Green Dragon, and
the Gulf Wars Green Dragon, are all symbols of communality and *belonging*.
Paul Revere's Green Dragon is a symbol of individuality and independence.
Both are fine things in proportion (and we all prefer different
proportions).  But, to my tastes, mixing the two together in the same poem
would be like...nacho-cheese flavored yogurt...

If I were attempt to link Revere's Green Dragon to other taverns of the
past, I'd probably start with Villon's Pomme de Pin, perhaps by way of the
Roman de Reynaurt ("So with merry heart sing/ Here's a fig for the King!")
moving on to the Greenwood of Robin Hood, after Errol Flynn("You speak
treason!" "Fluently.") and finishing...God knows where, really.  And maybe
that's an indication I shouldn't even try it.

Because as an American, I feel that I'm just not a good enough poet to
attempt a subject as important to me as Revere's Green Dragon.  Perhaps,
being an American, that's while I feel so free to deal with Chesterton's
Green Dragon, though I'm nowhere near as good a poet as Chesterton.  And
that's why, you being a member of the Commonwealth and still a legal heir to
Chesterton's tradition, I deeply appreciate your indulgence of me in
treating of the topic.

But the quintessential American tavern poem has been written.  It was even
an exercise in creative anachronism, just like our stuff: it was explicitly
intended as an American Canterbury Tales, right down to being set at an inn,
of an evening when a group of chance-brought travelers fall to telling
tales.  And Revere's Ride forms a memorable part of that poem.

It's called "Tales of a Wayside Inn."  The Inn still stands in Sudbury
Massachusetts, and I've been there. :o)

>Caveat: I rewrite and edit my stuff a lot, so please take this with the
>editorial eye of someone who constantly reworks his pieces and assumes
>everyone else wants to as well. I often take pieces people like of mine
>and rewrite whole sections during the first year or two because 'a' word
>isn't working for me and it sometimes requires rejigging the whole verse
>to make it better.

Oh, by all means, and if in setting my poem to music you find a word that
works better than one of mine, by all means use it.  You're the musician,
not me, and besides "I have had at last my dream."  You should have yours.

>The piece is very fine as is. No doubt. I am just pushing a little
>because I tend to think everyone wants to keep editing their stuff (ask
>Alden about that;) and because I want more of it. With the right music,
>I have no doubt that it will be a real favourite sing-a-long at the
>Green Dragon at future GW's and across the SCA. 

No problemo, 'ese! And I've noticed how Yeats continually edited his poems
as they went through successive editions.  Invariably, they got better: the
young Yeats is much more powerful for the emendations of his elder.

>I think the GW Green Dragon is an inspiring concept for the SCA and is
>the obvious 'centre' of the entire event. Tru and I are trying to figure
>out how to do something similar up here at a cpl of our local events.

Yannow, we need to get people to go all through the camp singing this song,
just like they did in Pepys' day:

"O, The Man i' th' Moon drinks claret
Eats powder-beef, turnip and caret!
If he does, why not should you
Drink until the sky turns blue?"

>Thanks for listening and no worries if you feel it's done

No worries atall! :o)