THE ROWAN CANTICLES - Canticle I - Introduction

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

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Don’t forget to download the companion Glossary below for definitions of archaic words to smooth your read!

Rowan Canticles Glossary

3.41MB ∙ PDF file

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CANTICLE I

HOW THE STORY SINGS

         Some say the spirit lives alone

Within its cage of flesh and bone,

And that one never truly hears

Another's song though sung for years.

Perhaps those sad empiricists                                  

Should hearken to the lyricists,                                

Who, ‘gainst the odds, to hope still cling,

Whilst in imprisoned souls they sing.

         Here then, a tale, not told, but sung,

Its faux anachronistic tongue                           

Silvered on purpose for the rhyme,

Its syntax bent. Now, how much time                     

It takes to lure you down these trails                       

The ancients walked, before the tails

Of verse grew rhymeless with ennui                      

And self-absorbed modernity,

Well, who can say? A game to play,

This poem is. A longish lay                                   

Of couplets, quatrains, whorls and more,         

––Anachronisms, well, galore––                                    

As well as free verse here and there,

Which to itself one must compare

To find the far-flung symphony

Splashed ‘cross its blank cacophony.

Continue to Canto I →

Wherein the story’s hero makes a deadly, drunken mistake that changes his life forever.

For audio stories with music, for adults and kids, visit my download shop!

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