Grex Poetry Conference

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Grex Poetry Item 345: Poems Centered around the Arthuriad
Entered by kingjon on Tue Jan 17 21:40:42 UTC 2006:

I am working on a series of poems centered in the Arthurian myth. I got the
idea from Charles Williams, whose _Taliesin Through Logres_ (the first or third
words might be misspelled; he used an uncommon spelling for the first, I think)
and _The Region of Summer Stars_ are built on the myth, with the plans to write
a prose third part (the _Arthurian Torso_, which C.S. Lewis completed for him).

My cycle, like Williams', takes Taliesin, court bard to Arthur, as one of its
"viewpoint" characters. Unlike his, I take Merlin as my other primary
"viewpoint character", and I have the conceit (in the old literary sense) that
Taliesin and Merlin are actually the same person, only centuries apart --
Taliesin is young, while Merlin is very old. There's more of this sort of
strange time-interactions in the cycle, but I'll explain them if they come up.

Just like Williams (only I hope less with these) you may have *quite a bit* of
trouble understanding just what's going on unless you are well-read in the same
sorts of things I am. I'm aiming for both style and substance, so if you can't
manage the substance, at least critique me on style.

These are in no particular sequence, but I'll begin with one chosen
arbitrarily.

1 responses total.

#1 of 1 by kingjon on Tue Jan 17 21:44:17 2006:

"Taliesin at the Battle" (the battle in question being Mount Badon)

                I
I sit beside my lord Arthur.
I was appointed captain of horse
With no prior knowledge on his part
Of my abilities.
The battle rages.
                II
The great strokes of history
Are made with the pen,
Not the sword,
But the strokes of the sword 
Are powerful nonetheless.
                III
Taliesin sits in the third heaven,
Drawing into the sands of time
A line of battle:
A charge here,
A countercharge there.
His strokes take on life.
                IV
I am a poet.
Now I am a mathematicican.
Thus, I am a philosopher.
All my pen-strokes have meaning.
                V
I stand beside my horse.
The battle has been won at great cost.
Men are battle-scarred
And I must, for a time, 
Stand in the second heaven.
My mind burns.

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