Writing a poem

Reading a poem is serious business.
Septentrian Baronial Investiture 2015.
Photo by Master Eirik Andersen.

I have been asked by a few people what my process is when I am writing a poem. Obviously, the first thing I need is a topic. Some of my favourite poems have been praise poems, and there are always people out there who deserve our praise. Has someone been elevated to an order? Did they make an impact on your day in a positive way? Did they engage in some great act of service? Do they amaze you with their artistic skill?

Once I have a topic (usually a person) I then carry out some research on them. I try to find out what their persona is (time and place), as well as what their interests are and specific bits of personal lore that I may be able to draw on (for instance, favourite colours, animals, activities, and so on).

Having determined the topic's time and place in history I then do some more research on the poetic traditions of that time and place. If the person I am going to write about has a 10th century Irish persona, then I will try to write the poem about them in a 10th century Irish style. This can actually take longer than writing the actual poem, as there are numerous poetic genres, forms and devices for every time and place. I began to keep a catalogue of this information (which I displayed at the Spring A&S Faire) so I would always have it easily accessible. I would urge other poets to do the same if they are thinking of writing in various styles.

The Athenaeum Hectoris

To encourage the proliferation of the written word within my kingdom (and the Society as a whole), I have launched a new project: the Athenaeum Hectorus. This website will (in time, I hope) become a great resource to those who want to learn to become poets, storytellers, wordsmiths or other producers of the written (and oral) word.

My plan is for the site to house (or link to) resources on how to write in various formats, how to perform, and other such items of interest.

So far I have had writers from several kingdoms allow me to link to or republish their content.

Today I added a new article I wrote about performing in the SCA.

Resource Page for Scroll Wordings

At the bequest of Her Excellency Mahault of Swynford, I am going to be putting together a resource page for wordsmiths to aid them in crafting the wordings for award scrolls. I plan on making this a collaborative effort, and I encourage other wordsmiths to send me their favourite online and hard copy resources, as well as samples of scrolls they have written.

Watch for a link to the new site soon.