Poetry Corner - Lack of Steadfastness

It is tempting, the way things are, to write a sort of party political broadcast. However, I shall spare you that, and instead quote the gentle Geoffrey Chaucer, as translated into modern English by A. S. Kline:

Once this world was so steadfast and so stable

That a man’s word was his obligation,

And now it is so false and mutable,

That word and deed, in their conclusion,

Are unalike, for so turned upside down

Is all this world, by gain and selfishness,

That all is lost for lack of steadfastness.

What makes this world of ours so variable

But the pleasure folk take in dissension?

Amongst us now a man is thought unable,

Unless he can, by some vile collusion,

Wrong his neighbour, or wreak his oppression.

What causes this but such wilful baseness,

That all is lost for lack of steadfastness?

Truth is put down: reason is held a fable;

Virtue has now no domination,

Pity is exiled, no man is merciful.

Through greed men blind discretion;

The world has made such a permutation

Of right to wrong, truth to fickleness,

That all is lose for lack of steadfastness.

Envoy (to King Richard II)
O Prince, desire to be honourable,

Cherish your folk, and hate extortion!

Order that nothing which may prove shameful

To your office, be done in your kingdom.

Show openly your sword of castigation,

Dread God: seek law, love truth and worthiness,

And wed your folk again to steadfastness.

Translated by A. S. Kline © 2008 All Rights Reserved

This work may be freely reproduced, stored, and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose.

The Open Fetterlock

Following a suggestion from Joan Szechtman and with her help with the formating, I have put together a Kindle 'book' of my unpublished writings. It's called The Open Fetterlock and should be available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk within the next few days. The price will be 99c in the USA and 75p in the UK.

I should tell you that there are no complete stories in there - these are tasters, or, if you like, scraps from my cutting-room floor. However they will at least prove that I have done something these last few years, including a couple of attempts at the Richard III novel.

Novels about the Middle Ages you should read - number 2

For reasons best known to Google, I am still unable to comment on my own entries, though I can post. What strange world of logic permits this is beyond me, but if I don't respond to comments please don't think me ignorant - it's just that (for whatever reason) I can't.

My second suggestion in this series is London Bridge is Falling by Philip Lindsay. Lindsay is a much neglected author these days - the novel was published in 1934 - and his output was variable. Some of his novels are a tad melodramatic for my taste, while his biographies of Henry V and Richard III are a little to the right of hagiographic.

In his long dedication, Lindsay admits that he cut the novel down from something much bigger and says that it is more of a 'street scene' than a novel. However, as it runs to 448 pages it is scarcely a short story.

The plot revolves around the people living on London Bridge in 1450, and how, ultimately they are impacted upon by Cade's rebellion. For several, it brings death.

You will care for some of the characters; others you will strongly dislike. However, as a novel of life in medieval London, with all its contrasts of wealth and squalour, London Bridge is Falling is hard to beat.

Blogger playing tricks

Although I can post this post, for some reason Blogger is not allowing me to comment on my own posts. No idea why not, but presumably a bug.

Novels about the Middle Ages you should read - number 1

I have decided to write up a short series of recommendations for medieval novels. The qualification to get in is hard - first, they must pass all my personal tests of acceptability (and I am Mr. Picky), second they must be relatively obscure, which means that the works of people like Sharon K. Penman, Elizabeth Chadwick and Anya Seton do not qualify. Not because of any disrespect for these authors - the absolute converse is true - but because if you don't already know about their works then you jolly well should.

First in the series is In a Dark Wood Wandering by Hella Haasse.

The novel is about Charles, Duke of Orleans, and starts with his birth in the late 14th Century and continues to his death in the middle 15th. It's a long book, and the reader needs stamina, but the effort is worth it. You should be aware that Charles spends 25 years as a prisoner in England, so if you're looking for lots of battle action, or even lots of romantic action you may well be disappointed. It's not that sort of novel. However there's tons of politics, tons of intrigue. You may also find Charles, as a person, rather cold and emotionally detached. I'd submit that with the kind of life he had to endure, this is probably a realistic appraisal of his character.

Not a book to cheer you up or set you laughing, but a wonderful tale of human endurance.

(Yes, I know I've reviewed this book before, but it was a 'must' for this series.)

The Daisy and The Bear

Just a brief mention of a new novel by Karen L Clark, The Daisy and the Bear.

This is a wonderful story of the Wars of the Roses, concerning Richard Neville Earl of Warwick and his true lurve. It'd be a shame to tell you who that is at it would completely spoil the plot and your enjoyment. This is a light-hearted tale, not to be taken too seriously, that seriously rips the pee out of bad historical novels. Indeed one particular author - whose name I shall not mention, but it rhymes with Dilippa Regory - has her interpretation of Elizabeth Woodville/Wydeville/however you spell it - rather delightfully parodied.

If you enjoyed Alianore Audley you will likely have the sense of humour that this book requires. (And if you haven't read Alianore Audley please buy that too, as I need the money. In fact, buy several copies for your friends.)

The ISBN for The Daisy and the Bear is 5-800056-222853. Further details may well be found on Karen's excellent website

Honesty and the reviewer's code compel me to reveal that I won this book in a Facebook competition, but I wouldn't have minded buying it. Honest.

By the way, the Blogger formatting isn't working properly today, so if this post looks odd, that's why. I'm not drunk or on non-prescribed drugs. Indeed I'm as sober as a particularly boring judge.

Saving Money at Christmas

Not long ago I saw a tinplate box in a shop - an empty tinplate box. It was intended for storing cupcakes and the price was £20. Now, I know the pound ain't worth too much these days, just a bit ahead of the Confederate Dollar in fact, but £20 for an empty box seems a bit steep.

So here's my money-saving tip for 2010, offered free of charge. Visit your local friendly supermarket and buy a large tin of biscuits. Cost, £10 tops, maybe only £6 with special offers and so on. Eat the biscuits. You will be left with an ideal tin for storing your cupcakes in; albeit it won't have pretty pictures of cupcakes on it, in fact it will quite likely have pictures of biscuits, but for heaven's sake it's only for storage. You aren't going to serve your honoured guests out of the tin are you? That would be frightfully common!

Anyway I reckon that saves at least £10, maybe £14 and you get a load of free biscuits too!

'Cupcakes' is an Americanism. When I was a lad (and that's a long while back now) my mother made the things every week and called them 'buns'. Sometimes we'd go to Belle Vue Zoo and feed some to the elephants. You're not allowed to do that now as apparently cupcakes are bad for the elephant's digestion. Which makes you think. If an elephant can't digest a cupcake, how on earth are we supposed to do it?

By the way, I hear that cake stands are going for big money right now. Because cupcakes are all the rage and people want cake stands to put them on. Funny old world. Whatever next? Fish knives to become fashion items?