THE ROWAN CANTICLES - Canticle II - Introduction: We Sing in Quatrains
A Tale Told in the Ancient Manner
The Rowan Canticles is an epic poem written in doggerel tetrameter. In other words, although each line contains eight syllables and rhymes with other lines nearby, like Shakespeare, I’ve used enjambment (one line spilling over into the next) here and there, especially in dialog sections. Mostly, though, I’ve striven for iambic tetrameter, which makes for a nice rhythm. You’ll notice that couplets, quatrains and other rhyme schemes refresh with each long Canticle. The old school language of The Rowan Canticles can be dense, but hey, it’s fun and it fits the fantasy.
Each week I will post a fresh Canto here at Substack, adding to the story. You’ll find ninety-nine Cantos in all contained in the three Canticles. The work is 13,000 lines long, about the length of Homer’s The Odyssey.
I hope you enjoy it!
Odds Bodkin
Don’t forget to download the companion Glossary below for definitions of archaic words to smooth your read!
CANTICLE II
INTRODUCTION
WE SING IN QUATRAINS
The art of music lies in change.
Composers seek to rearrange
Their note-clad thoughts in constant twists
About their themes, as art resists
The overused consistency.
For all their sweet redundancy,
Couplets, ranked in ostinato,
Tend, much like a worn out motto,
The mind and heart much less to seize
If sung so long they cease to please.
Therefore, this second song of three
We'll splash with tart variety.
Instead of piling rhyme on rhyme,
We'll do it ev'ry other time.
Continue to Canticle II: Canto I →
Written in quatrains—a fresh rhyme scheme—Canto I follows Devlin as he refuses the Mages’ vow of forced celibacy and quits the Ocean Temple.