To Add A Little Clarity, Jenny Rowland In That Book Isn't Actually Saying The Poem Is Bad; She Finds
To add a little clarity, Jenny Rowland in that book isn't actually saying the poem is bad; she finds it very interesting and is mostly analysing it from a detached perspective for the antiquarian traditions it records. There's some commentary on the poetic skill, both positive and negative, which is where the section I posted is from; it's mentioning there's slightly less metrical, technical skill vis a vis the rules and forms of medieval Welsh poetry than some other saga *englynion*, supporting her proposition this dialogue dates from after the form's heyday. I just screencapped a bit I thought was funny out of context because I have a mutual who likes Gwyn a lot and thought they might enjoy seeing him getting kinda bullied, ahah
Fair enough, I can agree with that, and I probably should have read into it further before reblogging. I suppose from my own reading I've become accustomed to vicious authorly attacks on Welsh anti-blorbos. Like this:
Wow, Laurence Main, tell us how you really feel with those sarcastic parentheses on "St" Illtyd! (For the record, I have met that author, and he is a delight to know, but he does not hold back about "Old Ill-Tide" or Gildas and also hates Taliesin with a burning passion).
Or this, from Adam Ardrey:
More sarcastic quotation marks and more hate for Gildas, who was not gentle in his own works and didn't mention King Arthur in any of his surviving writing and is still getting flamed for it around a millenium and a half later by people who are Maelgwyn fans, are trying to prove Arthur was real,* or both. I have written mediocre Gildas fanfiction at two in the morning with this as the fuel, because I think he probably gets too much hate, though having never met him, I can't judge any better than the people who claim he burned his praise of Arthur for petty reasons.
Anyway, this post went off the rails a lot, but all that is to say that literary scholarship can get incredibly opinionated, it's easy to fall into one viewpoint or become overly cynical about it in general, and I think I have mostly done the latter. Also, that Jenny Rowland book sounds rather interesting; I might have to check it out.
*For the record, I have no firm stance on the matter, since as far as I can tell it can't be proven or disproven. In my head, he both was and was not real. Schrödinger's King. Or warrior, rather.
More Posts from Taliesin-the-bored and Others
i don’t need gps or directions, i start walking and end up in the story pivotal location like a maiden from arthurian legends
Obscure Arthurian text which everyone should read #2: The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne
The name is a bit misleading, since Gawain and Guinevere (here referred to as Dame Gaynour) feature more in the story. The first part concerns their lakeside encounter with the terrifying ghost of Guinevere’s mother, who bemoans her fate, gives Guinevere advice, and doles out prophecies of doom, predicting the death of Gawain and the fall of Camelot to Mordred. The second part is about a fight between Gawain and Galeron, which is more mundane in subject but suggests some of the factors which will make the ghost’s prophecies come to pass.
We should talk more about these guys. These are the guys who serve as the Literary agents of the Arthurian Romance Narrative, specifically for the Lancelot prose cycle.
Supposedly, they're the reason the stories of Lancelot, Galehaut, etc. manage to reach thw modern day. They're also how the french writers could deviate from previous material, insisting on premise they accurately recorded the happenings and deeds of the heroes not mentioned by Robert, Chretien or Geoffrey.
If you are to write an arthurian story but with your own spin and changes, you can attribute the difference to "they were totally wrong/super-biased/skewed the facts" and say "this is what really happened"
Or, more ambitiously, make up own own "source material and authorities"
Propaganda:
I generally interpret Galahad as aroace. That being said, if he wasn’t and Galadred were a thing, I think it could save the Round Table. Being in a relationship might stop Galahad from going on the Grail quest, which would stop a great number of people from dying, and having a very Catholic boyfriend might stop Mordred from participating in some of his more dubious hobbies, like plotting murder.
I noticed that Caradoc’s and Arthur’s arms are similar: both feature crowns on an azure field, though Arthur has multiple crowns or and Caradoc just has one crown argent. Caradoc is married to one of Igraine’s daughters in the Vulgate Merlin, and he is the son of Arthur’s niece (but referred to as his nephew) in The Story of Caradoc. It’s quite possible that whoever designed Caradoc’s arms meant them to look like a humbler version of Arthur’s.
Coats of Arms of (some) Knights of the Round Table from a 16th century French manuscript, including most of our favourite Merlin knights.
From left to right:
Galahad, Percival, Lancelot du Lac, Bors
King Arthur, Gawain, Tristan, Lionel
(H)elyan the White, King Bagdemagus, King Edern, King Rience,
King Carados, King Clariance, Duke Chaliens of Clarence and (H)ector de Maris.
My new job is making people’s often ill-advised wishes come true on a resort island which might actually be Purgatory but no one knows because the premise of the show was never adequately explained to anyone, including the stars.
People who don’t know what “aroace” means never understand why I like losing when I play Old Maid.
here iiis a small sketch of taliesin from a story of mine (also if you wanna get your oc or favorite character drawn like this i offer commissions)
Do you happen to have a link to the text of Caradoc? I'm very intrigued by it.
uhhh yeah i have it here is a scan. i dont recommend it if im being honest i enjoyed it but i did not like it. thats my review. also some warnings under the cut
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x_a3CmlJtIlI01mFMKvfxCehRkr6Z1fz/view?usp=sharing
this text has some rape and bestiality and just?? a lot of wierd sexual shit thats my warning i guess if u want o read it anyway i mean. i read it so im not gonna judge u but its A Lot
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salomania liked this · 5 months ago -
sunshinemoonrx reblogged this · 5 months ago -
sunshinemoonrx liked this · 5 months ago
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taliesin-the-bored reblogged this · 5 months ago
In which I ramble about poetry, Arthuriana, aroace stuff, etc. In theory. In practice, it's almost all Arthuriana.
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