Strang Beorn Dev log 02

The Bardsong

I’ve been writing the Strang Beorn segment of the Bardsong over the past couple of weeks. Well, rewriting it actually. I’ve already had a crack at it; I wrote a poem I was quite fond of. It read well and told the story it needed to tell. But, after leaving it for a few weeks before rereading it (and Kate’s first editing pass), we realised that it wasn’t right. The voice was well off, and it was more modern free verse than bardic epic. So, I thought it best to start again, and went back to my research.

Over the past week I’ve been reading bardic poetry from the Penguin Classics A Celtic Miscellany. It’s a great book, filled with a wide range of translated Celtic literature. There are so many good examples of heroic myth, writings on magic and nature and, of course, bardic poetry. 

There are many strict rules to proper bardic poetry, and writing something that was really worth the title would take me years of practice, rather than a couple of months, so I’ve decided to make the Bardsong a sort of amalgamation of the different forms of Celtic literature. I’ve been especially inspired by Celtic elegy; they’re profoundly miserable, which is a great fit for Strang Beorn. 

The Bardsong I’m writing now is prosaic, with longer stanzas and a heavy emphasis on the voice of the author. The God of Tales despairs; he knows the demise of the gods is coming and he knows they deserve it. It’s his duty to document their downfall.

Here’s a short segment of what I’ve got so far:

‘Earn-prince, Bringer of dismal death, Quick-hand of lowly birth; the Spearman will make a God of himself.

Hear him not, Dagda? Hear him not, Bhas upon the White Bull? Hear him not, brother Bel? Shining one? Bright one? Pale one? I have heard. His light steps rupture rifts across the land, fissures that cross plains, breach mountain stone and tear tilth. You will hear it soon enough as the ground at your feet opens to a vast chasm and swallows you and sets this earth to quiet once more. You will hear it.’

So, it’s not technically bardic poetry, but it delivers a similar vibe that’ll work really well for the book (and I’m having a lot of fun writing it).

In the next dev log, I’ll be writing about the book’s maps, the inspiration for them and how you’ll use them alongside the fluid storytelling in Strang Beorn.