Author's Note:
The Royal Library's Writer-in-Residence is expected to publish, from time to time, to keep our Library and its works in the public eye, and this little piece is one I am happy to put under the Library's imprint.
It is an attempt to render a traditional troll style in the orcish language. In classic Zandali poetry, the placement and repetition of vowel sounds is considered as important as end rhymes -- thus the rhythmic "chorus" sections at the bottom of each stanza, where words share a flattened "A" sound with the word "Zandalar," as well as with the other chorus words.
Readers will of course also notice that the choral words are adjectival until the final verse, when the chorus switches to an active verb: "Gather, Zandalar" rather than "clanless Zandalar," "master Zandalar," etc. It is not a subtle device, but then, trollish poetry is not a subtle art.
I hope the structure will be of interest to scholars of language and poetry -- and the subject and sound of the work to everyone else.
Arjah
Writer in Residence,
Royal Library
Rise of Zandalar
In the dusts of the wasteland our people have fought,
The pride of their great clans; their history, forgot.
But cities still rise from the jungle's green depths
Where our memory is prized and a tribe holds its breath:
The clanless, clanless
Clanless
Zandalar,
Clanless, clanless,
Zandalar.
Like smoke from a mountain, like pain from a scream,
Zandali shall fountain in their endless stream.
Our masters shall crumble, oppressors shall fall
And the whole world rumble with their ancient call:
The savage, savage
Savage
Zandalar,
Savage, savage
Zandalar.
Though our foes number legion, though our enemies strong
No homeland, no region shall turn back their throng.
Aroused from their slumber, the earliest race
Defies mortal numbers and reclaims its place
As master, master
Master
Zandalar,
Master, master
Zandalar.
In dreaming, in waking, this vision we see,
The Zandalar breaking the world at their knee.
Let the orcs have their city, the humans their war;
All others our pity when the clan comes once more!
So gather, gather
Gather
Zandalar,
Gather, gather
Zandalar.
Gather, gather,
Gather
Zandalar
Gather, gather,
Gather.
The Royal Library's Writer-in-Residence is expected to publish, from time to time, to keep our Library and its works in the public eye, and this little piece is one I am happy to put under the Library's imprint.
It is an attempt to render a traditional troll style in the orcish language. In classic Zandali poetry, the placement and repetition of vowel sounds is considered as important as end rhymes -- thus the rhythmic "chorus" sections at the bottom of each stanza, where words share a flattened "A" sound with the word "Zandalar," as well as with the other chorus words.
Readers will of course also notice that the choral words are adjectival until the final verse, when the chorus switches to an active verb: "Gather, Zandalar" rather than "clanless Zandalar," "master Zandalar," etc. It is not a subtle device, but then, trollish poetry is not a subtle art.
I hope the structure will be of interest to scholars of language and poetry -- and the subject and sound of the work to everyone else.
Arjah
Writer in Residence,
Royal Library
Rise of Zandalar
In the dusts of the wasteland our people have fought,
The pride of their great clans; their history, forgot.
But cities still rise from the jungle's green depths
Where our memory is prized and a tribe holds its breath:
The clanless, clanless
Clanless
Zandalar,
Clanless, clanless,
Zandalar.
Like smoke from a mountain, like pain from a scream,
Zandali shall fountain in their endless stream.
Our masters shall crumble, oppressors shall fall
And the whole world rumble with their ancient call:
The savage, savage
Savage
Zandalar,
Savage, savage
Zandalar.
Though our foes number legion, though our enemies strong
No homeland, no region shall turn back their throng.
Aroused from their slumber, the earliest race
Defies mortal numbers and reclaims its place
As master, master
Master
Zandalar,
Master, master
Zandalar.
In dreaming, in waking, this vision we see,
The Zandalar breaking the world at their knee.
Let the orcs have their city, the humans their war;
All others our pity when the clan comes once more!
So gather, gather
Gather
Zandalar,
Gather, gather
Zandalar.
Gather, gather,
Gather
Zandalar
Gather, gather,
Gather.
