Hello everyone! Today, I am posting my first exercise from my studies. It has taken some time, but I have gradually grown more structured in my work toward my goals, and I finally have some results, however meagre.
As I have previously stated, I am following a set training guide for my bardic studies, and one of the first tasks given is to compose a poem in praise of something that you admire or gain inspiration from. This praise poem will then be recited everyday, a bit like a prayer, as a reminder of what you are working for as an anruth (bard in training) and to serve as daily inspiration and empowerment.
As a bit of background, I believe I mentioned once before that I have tried my hand at this particular study course once, and through a lack of focus, I fell off the path. I did, however manage to create a praise poem, though I was never satisfied with it. I believe that I had previously just made it an exercise and didn't allow the poem to come from the heart. It was empty, and also overly complicated.
This time, I had a clearer idea of what I wanted to do. However, I had still encountered some trouble. I had intended to make a poem in praise of Awen/Imbas/the Holy Spirit, itself, and although I did get at least one stanza completed, it didn't seem to be going anywhere after that. I started listing images that I associate with Awen to see if I could come up with any buidling blocks for more poetry, but nothing I thought of would fit together. It was a bit like having several pieces to a puzzle, but realizing that none of them fit together.
Last night, I said a little prayer asking for some help with my creation. Low and behold, if I wasn't answered! After my prayer and some relaxed meditation, I was struck with the gift of inspiration. I suddenly remembered a poem that I had read made by Amergin. Amergin was the earliest and, I believe, greatest of the Irish bards. There are a number of poems attributed to him, and Imbas (Awen) brought to my mind one of them:
"I seek the land of Ireland.
Forceful is the fruitful sea,
Fruitful the serried mountains,
Serried the showery woods,
Showery the cascade of rivers,
Cascaded the tributaries of lakes,
Tributaried the well of hills,
Welling the people of gatherings,
Gathering of Tara's king,
Tara, hill of tribes,
Tribes of Mil's people,
Mil's ships and galleys,
Galleys of mighty Eire,
Eire, mighty and green.
A crafty incantation,
Craftiness of Bres's wives,
Bres, of Buaigne's wives,
Great Lady Eire:
Eremon harried her,
Ir and Eber sought for her-
I seek the land of Ireland."
Marvelous. I love this poem. After it being brought to my mind, I was struck my its similarity to a section of another poem that is part of a tale called "The Dialogue of the Two Sages".
In this story, two bards, one older and experienced, and the other being young, but very talented, have a bit of a "poet's duel", one might say. The younger bard had laid claim to the older bard's position, and a battle of wits ensues, in the form of a sort of question and answer session. One would ask the other a question and the other was expected to answer, in true bardic style, in verse-form. The idea being, whichever of the two answered their questions in the most eloquent, but also most wise and insightful, manner would be named the greater bard. Ultimately, it ends in a draw and the two come to greatly admire each other's skill and wisdom.
One section of the tale, however, is very similar, in terms of its poetic form, to the poem by Amergin. Ferchertne, the elder bard, asks Nede, the young talent, whose son he is, to which Nede answers:
"Not hard to answer: I am son of Poetry,
Poetry son of Scrutiny,
Scrutiny son of Meditation,
Meditation son of Lore,
Lore son of Enquiry,
Enquiry son of Investigation,
Investigation son of Great-Knowledge,
Great-Knowledge son of Great-Sense,
Great-Sense son of Understanding,
Understanding son of Wisdom,
Wisdom, son of the three gods of Poetry."
You can see that the form is similar to Amergin's Invocation. The end of a line serves as the beginning of the next line.
All of this passed through my mind within a minutes time. It was then that I had an idea for a praise poem that was completely different from the one I had been working on. So, after some thought, I managed to create what I had been striving toward. It isn't a compliacted poem, in form, and it isn't very long, but here it is, nonetheless. My praise poem:
"God within my soul,
My soul within myself,
Myself within my family,
My family within humanity,
Humanity within the Earth,
Earth within Creation,
Creation within God."
Seven lines. Each line ending with the word starting the next line. Simple, but elegant. Short, but profound. This is my praise poem.
I do not mean to say that I wont potentially seek to improve it, because it certainly isn't anything special. It could be improved upon. I am not trying to brag about my work. That, I think, would be crass and ignorant. However, it is one of my first real accomplishments as an anruth, and, finally, I have made a praise poem that I am satisfied with.
As I have previously stated, I am following a set training guide for my bardic studies, and one of the first tasks given is to compose a poem in praise of something that you admire or gain inspiration from. This praise poem will then be recited everyday, a bit like a prayer, as a reminder of what you are working for as an anruth (bard in training) and to serve as daily inspiration and empowerment.
As a bit of background, I believe I mentioned once before that I have tried my hand at this particular study course once, and through a lack of focus, I fell off the path. I did, however manage to create a praise poem, though I was never satisfied with it. I believe that I had previously just made it an exercise and didn't allow the poem to come from the heart. It was empty, and also overly complicated.
This time, I had a clearer idea of what I wanted to do. However, I had still encountered some trouble. I had intended to make a poem in praise of Awen/Imbas/the Holy Spirit, itself, and although I did get at least one stanza completed, it didn't seem to be going anywhere after that. I started listing images that I associate with Awen to see if I could come up with any buidling blocks for more poetry, but nothing I thought of would fit together. It was a bit like having several pieces to a puzzle, but realizing that none of them fit together.
Last night, I said a little prayer asking for some help with my creation. Low and behold, if I wasn't answered! After my prayer and some relaxed meditation, I was struck with the gift of inspiration. I suddenly remembered a poem that I had read made by Amergin. Amergin was the earliest and, I believe, greatest of the Irish bards. There are a number of poems attributed to him, and Imbas (Awen) brought to my mind one of them:
"I seek the land of Ireland.
Forceful is the fruitful sea,
Fruitful the serried mountains,
Serried the showery woods,
Showery the cascade of rivers,
Cascaded the tributaries of lakes,
Tributaried the well of hills,
Welling the people of gatherings,
Gathering of Tara's king,
Tara, hill of tribes,
Tribes of Mil's people,
Mil's ships and galleys,
Galleys of mighty Eire,
Eire, mighty and green.
A crafty incantation,
Craftiness of Bres's wives,
Bres, of Buaigne's wives,
Great Lady Eire:
Eremon harried her,
Ir and Eber sought for her-
I seek the land of Ireland."
Marvelous. I love this poem. After it being brought to my mind, I was struck my its similarity to a section of another poem that is part of a tale called "The Dialogue of the Two Sages".
In this story, two bards, one older and experienced, and the other being young, but very talented, have a bit of a "poet's duel", one might say. The younger bard had laid claim to the older bard's position, and a battle of wits ensues, in the form of a sort of question and answer session. One would ask the other a question and the other was expected to answer, in true bardic style, in verse-form. The idea being, whichever of the two answered their questions in the most eloquent, but also most wise and insightful, manner would be named the greater bard. Ultimately, it ends in a draw and the two come to greatly admire each other's skill and wisdom.
One section of the tale, however, is very similar, in terms of its poetic form, to the poem by Amergin. Ferchertne, the elder bard, asks Nede, the young talent, whose son he is, to which Nede answers:
"Not hard to answer: I am son of Poetry,
Poetry son of Scrutiny,
Scrutiny son of Meditation,
Meditation son of Lore,
Lore son of Enquiry,
Enquiry son of Investigation,
Investigation son of Great-Knowledge,
Great-Knowledge son of Great-Sense,
Great-Sense son of Understanding,
Understanding son of Wisdom,
Wisdom, son of the three gods of Poetry."
You can see that the form is similar to Amergin's Invocation. The end of a line serves as the beginning of the next line.
All of this passed through my mind within a minutes time. It was then that I had an idea for a praise poem that was completely different from the one I had been working on. So, after some thought, I managed to create what I had been striving toward. It isn't a compliacted poem, in form, and it isn't very long, but here it is, nonetheless. My praise poem:
"God within my soul,
My soul within myself,
Myself within my family,
My family within humanity,
Humanity within the Earth,
Earth within Creation,
Creation within God."
Seven lines. Each line ending with the word starting the next line. Simple, but elegant. Short, but profound. This is my praise poem.
I do not mean to say that I wont potentially seek to improve it, because it certainly isn't anything special. It could be improved upon. I am not trying to brag about my work. That, I think, would be crass and ignorant. However, it is one of my first real accomplishments as an anruth, and, finally, I have made a praise poem that I am satisfied with.
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