Galastari poetry

From: Argrath_at_aol.com
Date: Sun, 25 Dec 1994 17:35:22 -0500

While the rest of you were strapping on your new in-line skates or hangin' with the 'rents, I was typing up some Gloranthan poetry I wrote a while back during a dull meeting. Here it goes. The first bit is a translation from Janubian of a pro-Galastari propaganda song, written before the Ban but lately revived. The second is an anti-Galastari satire translated from Loskalmi into an Earthly poetic form (my favorite form of poetry, as it happens). Notes afterward explain what may at first glance to be rather odd thoughts.

1. There is a city on three hills, A beacon shining by the river, Every stone (1) there is strong and good And the people are happy and wise.

     Let trumpets sound to every wind (2),
     The noble harps are plucked and sing (3).
     Feasts and wine for all alike,
     And dancing by torchlight in the street.

     Beware, foes of the city.
     Our soldiers are fierce and deadly.
     Galastar's Will is an invisible sword
     To keep the walls (4) free and great.


2.   There was an old fogy named Galastar
     His brains and his bones good for ballast are (5).
          They say that he's wise,
          But he's covered with flies (6),
     And he's having a bad time while a star (7).

(1) A metalepsis, or double metonymy (substitution of a related
word for what is meant). Since stones can hardly be considered "good," the poet apparently means the home-owners, especially the nobles, whose houses are built of stone. Stone = house = household or homeowner. In the previous line, of course, "beacon" is a metonymy for "a shining example." The poet seems to have a fondness for metonymy.

(2) An easier metonymy. In Fronelan belief, there are seven
winds: from the dawn, from the dusk, from the center of the world, from the icy wastes, from above, from below, and the nowind.   Thus, "to the winds" means to all the directions. Of course, the whole phrase is a metonymy, as "let trumpets sound to every wind" really means "let propaganda go out to all the citystate' s neighbors."

(3) A poetic way of saying "harps are played beautifully for the nobles."

(4) A synecdoche, or substitution of a part for the whole. Walls = city.

(5) Knights from Loskalm, acting on behalf of the Jrusteli rulers
of Loskalm, stole the bones of Baron Galastar from the city he founded. According to rumor, they stowed the remains in the bilge of a ship, thus hiding them from anyone searching for them. Hence, ballast.

(6) It is impossible to translate the scatological connotations
of this phrase. More than simply implying decay, this phrase in the original Loskalmi implies that St. Galastar is a dung pile.

(7) After Galastari knights recovered Baron Galastar's bones, he
was canonized (proclaimed a saint) by all the high priests and bishops of his city, except for the Hrestoli bishop. The Hrestoli bishop concocted an excuse to stay away from the ceremony, thereby abstaining. The Hrestoli church to this day does not officially recognize Galastar as a saint. In fact, only the Jonating church and the devotees of St. Yunurian recognize St. Galastar. The Galastari church likewise does not recognize the patron saints of the other Janubian city-states.

     In Malkioni belief, each saint has a star, from which he or she looks down on his devotees. Thus, the author of this ditty acknowledges that Galastar is a saint, but denigrates him at the same time.

Does the lack of activity on the Digest over the holiday weekend mean that you people have lives? Or just that you write to the Digest on company time?
- --Martin

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