Category: Fighter Poems

I chose a Terza Rima for Sir Dante, invented by the 13th century Italian poet of the same name for his epic poem, The Divine Comedy.

Terza Rima is composed of tercets woven into a rhyme scheme that requires the end-word of the second line in one tercet to supply the rhyme for the first and third lines in the following tercet. Thus, the rhyme scheme:

a b a
b c b
c d c
d e d

continues through to the final stanza or line.

Terza rima is typically written in an iambic line, and in English, most often in iambic pentameter.

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Sir Dante Lizza da Benevento
fallen in Spring Crown Tourney, A.S. XLII

(terza rima)

Atop the rolling hills Her finest came
To place the wreath of roses on Her hair
And share with Her the triumph of the game.

For most, the sun’s warm rays would burn and glare
But under mighty oaks this warrior stood
Each gallant blow a victory for Her Heir.

He met the list with all the might he could
Until another son would have his way
And bring the tourney’s end to, as it should.

For all who saw this tournament display
There was no nobler knight than he who fell
And victory was Hers upon this day.

— THL Beathog nic Dhonnchaidh

. . . a 14th century bard who can often be seen traveling far from her home in the Highlands with her lord husband and muse.  If a good tale crosses her path, she will sing a song about it, pull out its hair and spin it, or throw it in a pot and cook it up.

A sonnet shows two related but differing things to the reader, in order to communicate something, told in iambic pentameter.  There are different kinds of sonnets.  In this Petrarchan Sonnet, the first eight lines give details of the battle as seen by bystanders; the last six lines offer a glimpse into the heart of the consort.

The Petrarchan Sonnet is divided into two sections by two different groups of rhyming sounds.  The change from one rhyme group to another signifies a change in subject matter.

The first eight lines is called the octave and rhymes:

a b b a a b b a

The remaining six lines is called the sestet and can have either two or three rhyming sounds, arranged in a variety of ways; in my sonnet:

c d e c d e

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Sir Gamyl of Mottrum
fallen in Fall Crown Tourney, A.S. XLII

(Petrarchan Sonnet)

The lion took the field to meet his foe;
Both wolf and wyvern fell against him there
Before another knight would feel despair.
And when this day had ended, all would know.
Two lions stood at ready, armed to go
Until one would become Ithuna’s heir.
The hammer fell; defeat was in the air;
For python was to strike the final blow.

These contests, on this day, did best impart
The glory lauded from a lover’s eyes
On to the field of valor where he lay.
His victory, she knew within her heart.
The battle lost, but chivalry the prize;
To fall, then rise with honor on this day.

–THL Beathog nic Dhonnchaidh

. . . is a 14th century bard who can often be seen traveling far from her home in the Highlands with her lord husband and muse.  If a good tale crosses her path, she will sing a song about it, pull out its hair and spin it, or throw it in a pot and cook it up.

And there was Brown, upside down
Lappin’ up the whiskey on the floor
Booze Booze the firemen cried
as they came knockin’ at the door
Don’t let them in till it’s all mopped up
Somebody shouted “McIntyre”
And we all got blue blind
paralytic drunk
When the Old Dun Cow caught fire

Irish verse, yes.  Irish drinking song, no.

Deibhidhe (jay-vée) and its variations are ancient Irish Verse Forms that carry a deibhidhe or light rhyme, meaning that each rhymed couplet rhymes a stressed end syllable with an unstressed end syllable.  As with most ancient Irish forms, the Deibhidhes are written with cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (ending the poem with the same word, phrase or line with which the poem began).

A Deibhidhe is:

1. written in any number of quatrains, each line has 7 syllables;
2. composed with light rhyming in couplets, rhyming a stressed end syllable with an unstressed end syllable;
3. alliterated, often alliteration appears between two words in each line;
4. written with the final word of L4 alliterating with the preceding stressed word;
5. composed to include at least two cross-rhymes between L3 and L4. Rhyme scheme aabb ccdd etc.

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Vicountess Krysta MacIntyre
fallen in Spring Crown Tourney, A.S. XLI

(Irish deibhidhe)

Herald called her to take arms
This Lady of Lindesfarne
But she fell to the first knight
Well met in this stark sunlight.

Fresh wounds from the lion’s best
Helped the bear in his conquest
A few sure blows and she fell
Silence grows, save now deathe knell.

Brave and bold for all to see
Death denied her victory
Tales of valor will be told
And honor hailed by Herald.

–THL Beathog nic Dhonnchaidh

. . . is a 14th century bard who can often be seen traveling far from her home in the Highlands with her lord husband and muse.  If a good tale crosses her path, she will sing a song about it, pull out its hair and spin it, or throw it in a pot and cook it up.

I learned, early on, that not all my fighter poems would be born of inspiration.  How do I write a fighter poem for a fighter that 1) I did not see fight, 2) I do not know, and 3) has no SCA persona to fall back on?  On a whim, I decided to try my hand at a conachlonn, a simple Irish chain verse.

The conachlonn is:

1. written in any number of lines;
2. syllabic at the poet’s discretion, often 8 or 9 syllable lines;
3. assonant chained rhymed, meaning the vowel sound of the last syllable of the line is repeated at the beginning of the next line;
4. written with dunadh, the beginning syllable ends the poem.

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Sir Sven Gunther Alcon
fallen in Spring Crown Tourney, A.S. XL

(conachlonn)

Fair the day became and hot the sun
One rose a promise from a champion’s hand
Planned victories made sweet as three lay dead
Bled from them a chance to rule this land.
Grand the day became and fierce the sun
One English Duke has proved the stronger foe
Though Alcon gave the pithon’s Knight his best
Less was his skill upon the final blow.
Know now the day of blinding sun
One last defeat under the violent glare
Where sword and shield lay at his side
Denied now a victory for his lady fair.

— THL Beathog nic Dhonnchaidh

. . . is a 14th century bard who can often be seen traveling far from her home in the Highlands with her lord husband and muse. If a good tale crosses her path, she will sing a song about it, pull out its hair and spin it, or throw it in a pot and cook it up.

This was the perfect opportunity to try my hand at a Scottish stanza!

Also known as the Burns stanza, the Standard Habbie, or the Six Line Stave, the Scottish stanza is a tail rhyme stanza, meaning that the last line of the stanza is short and rhymes with another short line within the stanza.    The Burns stanza was made popular by the 18th century Scot poet, Robert Burns, but was previously used by another Scot, Habbie Simpson in the early 1600s. The form could also be categorized as a variation of the 16th century Occitan form Rime Couée.

The Scottish stanza is:

1. stanzaic, written in any number of sixains;
2. metered, the standard meter of Scottish poetry is tetrameter. This stanza is most often written with L1, L2, L3, L5 in iambic tetrameter and L4 and L6 in iambic dimeter. Some sources indicated the form to be syllabic, with the long lines being between 8 and 9 syllables and the short lines between 4 and 5 syllables;
3. rhymed, rhyme scheme aaabab cccdcd etc.

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Lord Andrew Baird
fallen in Fall Crown Tourney, A.S. XLI

(Scottish stanza)

From the lowland warriors came,
Their dreams of victory the same,
That tourney’s end would carry fame
For combat’s deed.
And Herald’s voice would call their name
As al-Caid.

Lord Andrew took the field in stride,
Fa’izah stood and watched with pride,
But victory would be on the side
Of his first foe.
Lament this victory denied
From eagle’s blow.

Again he rose to face the fight,
To honor Her was his delight,
But fate bestowed the second knight
With victory sweet.
Struck down by the lion’s might
His was defeat.

–THL Beathog nic Dhonnchaidh

. . . is a 14th century bard who can often be seen traveling far from her home in the Highlands with her lord husband and muse.  If a good tale crosses her path, she will sing a song about it, pull out its hair and spin it, or throw it in a pot and cook it up.

I have written songs nearly all my life.  But, when asked to participate with the Circle of Bards of Caid and write my first fighter poem, I was worried.  Good words can be made into great words with the right melody to back them up, but poetry — my words alone — that was scary!

My first assignment was to be a poem for a friend of mine, Richard Clerke.  I dutifully followed him around the day of Crown Tourney, hoping for inspiration to find me.  Finally!  In combat with his own knight, the squire takes Duke John’s legs and the (momentary) visual was the knight kneeling before his own squire on the field.  Yes, mere seconds later, the squire was defeated, and lay at his master’s feet.  But, the brief image was enough to inspire my pen.

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Richard Clerke of Rowanwood
fallen in Fall Crown Tourney, A.S. XXXVII

(a rondel)

The rowan flower bends her head
And leaves her champion to his sleep.
She cradles pome in hands stained red
In shadow of the great oak’s keep.

Love’s kiss, now but a memory sweet
Upon the lips of the rose he wed,
The rowan flower bends her head
And leaves her champion to his sleep.

Two foes, two fell, both now lay dead.
The Welsh Duke taken off his feet
To kneel before her lover’s bed.
Three ladies stand alone to weep.
The rowan flower bends her head
And leaves her champion to his sleep.

 – Baintighearna Beathog nic Dhonnchaidh

. . . a 14th century bard who can often be seen traveling far from her home in the Highlands with her lord husband and muse.