Writing Help 129 | - ☆ Freelance Writer
Apr 08, 2013 | #1
Poetic Terms You Have to Learn
The office or vocation of "poet" dates back thousands of years, and this office carried special social significance and varying duties which often had as much to do with the culture in which the poet worked as it did the verses that he or she (though it was most often he, for reasons related to the long human history of patriarchal rule) was expected to create. In our age of remarkable political, social, religious, and creative liberty, poets are free to compose virtually whatever they like, and to comment on any aspect of modern society, without fearing the consequences of their words and actions. In previous ages and cultures, however, this liberty was not established, and the poet had to be very careful indeed; saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time could result in being removed from your position in the royal court, exiled from your city or country, locked in a prison indefinitely, or even executed on the grounds of indecency or treason!
The earliest English poets, who spoke a dialect of Anglo-Saxon (also known as Old English) which is impossible to read for modern English speakers without training (if you don't believe me, find a copy of Beowulf in the original language and try reading any given line), were known as scops (pronounced "shops" or "shopes"), and made their living primarily on the road, traveling between wealthy and powerful patrons who would pay them for their original poetic compositions. Poetic transmission during this period of the English language was primarily oral, as English only gained an alphabet after contact with the Romans, from whom the Latin alphabet was taken and implemented with very little change. These oral compositions were accompanied on lyres, small stringed instruments resembling tiny harps; we can see then that the poet at this time was a musical entertainer, and successful scops, like successful musical entertainers today, were in high demand and were paid well for their services. If a scop was lucky, a particular patron would take such a liking to him that he would employ him on a full-time, permanent basis, which would dramatically cut down on dangerous wandering time and provide him with a stable income and a consistent roof over his head.
Unfortunately, once a scop had achieved this enviable accommodation, he had to be even more careful in his composition and performance of verse. First, it was obvious that nothing could be said against the patron who supported him, nor against his family, his allies, or even the region he ruled and its people. Religion, which was largely Christian thanks to the efforts of the Roman missionaries like The Venerable Bede, was not something a scop could question, and was best embraced or ignored depending on the particular poem being recited and the patron in question. Traveling scops composed their poems based on a common store of popular stories and tales, meaning that while their particular recitations were unique, the subject matter almost never was. A scop at court, however, was expected not only to constantly make old material (which was most often requested) fresh with each new recitation, but he was also expected to compose new verses for various occasions important to his patron and patron's family; success in this area was of the utmost importance, for failing to rise to an important occasion could result in termination, in either the figurative or literal sense. Because their patrons held so much power over them, the scops seldom bit the hand that fed them, and as a result much of the verse of the time is entirely uncontroversial; satire, as one might expect, was not a common mode.
The Scop
The office or vocation of "poet" dates back thousands of years, and this office carried special social significance and varying duties which often had as much to do with the culture in which the poet worked as it did the verses that he or she (though it was most often he, for reasons related to the long human history of patriarchal rule) was expected to create. In our age of remarkable political, social, religious, and creative liberty, poets are free to compose virtually whatever they like, and to comment on any aspect of modern society, without fearing the consequences of their words and actions. In previous ages and cultures, however, this liberty was not established, and the poet had to be very careful indeed; saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time could result in being removed from your position in the royal court, exiled from your city or country, locked in a prison indefinitely, or even executed on the grounds of indecency or treason!
The earliest English poets, who spoke a dialect of Anglo-Saxon (also known as Old English) which is impossible to read for modern English speakers without training (if you don't believe me, find a copy of Beowulf in the original language and try reading any given line), were known as scops (pronounced "shops" or "shopes"), and made their living primarily on the road, traveling between wealthy and powerful patrons who would pay them for their original poetic compositions. Poetic transmission during this period of the English language was primarily oral, as English only gained an alphabet after contact with the Romans, from whom the Latin alphabet was taken and implemented with very little change. These oral compositions were accompanied on lyres, small stringed instruments resembling tiny harps; we can see then that the poet at this time was a musical entertainer, and successful scops, like successful musical entertainers today, were in high demand and were paid well for their services. If a scop was lucky, a particular patron would take such a liking to him that he would employ him on a full-time, permanent basis, which would dramatically cut down on dangerous wandering time and provide him with a stable income and a consistent roof over his head.Unfortunately, once a scop had achieved this enviable accommodation, he had to be even more careful in his composition and performance of verse. First, it was obvious that nothing could be said against the patron who supported him, nor against his family, his allies, or even the region he ruled and its people. Religion, which was largely Christian thanks to the efforts of the Roman missionaries like The Venerable Bede, was not something a scop could question, and was best embraced or ignored depending on the particular poem being recited and the patron in question. Traveling scops composed their poems based on a common store of popular stories and tales, meaning that while their particular recitations were unique, the subject matter almost never was. A scop at court, however, was expected not only to constantly make old material (which was most often requested) fresh with each new recitation, but he was also expected to compose new verses for various occasions important to his patron and patron's family; success in this area was of the utmost importance, for failing to rise to an important occasion could result in termination, in either the figurative or literal sense. Because their patrons held so much power over them, the scops seldom bit the hand that fed them, and as a result much of the verse of the time is entirely uncontroversial; satire, as one might expect, was not a common mode.