paper bark and
fine hair flutters
on the pale winds
chasing ripples
over a secret lake
For a change of pace, I decided to revisit ogam/ogham for a poetry prompt tool. As with the Elder Futhark runes, I randomly select one of the ogam fid as a prompt for a bit of micropoetry.
Because I have a poorly-developed sense of humor, the title of this post refers to a variant of the word, fid, “few”. While still in common usage, “few” is not technically accurate to describe the letter — but I like my wordplay.
Beithe (in Old Irish, beith in modern Irish) means “birch”. The fid has a number of cryptic meanings depending on the kenning or its inclusions in the medieval word lists of the filli, including: white, pheasant, livelihood, “withered foot with fine hair”, and “beauty of the eyebrow”, amongst many, many others.
I do not embrace Robert Graves’ mystical meanings as I feel they are not based in scholarship and that they disagree with people who have made a lifetime study of the ogam. While there is evidence of possible filli-coding within the letters (per the lists poets were made to memorize), there is little evidence that magical meaning was the intent and the association with magic appears to be a modern invention… But that is another post.
Perhaps I’ll eventually bring fid back and finish my in-depth exploration of their meanings.
12 responses to “one of a few — 29apr25”
I like this, Michael.
Poorly-developed humour? I’d say just different, which is good.
Wait until you finally have your “filli”. 😂
😂 probably there!
See! I told you we’d get there quickly. 😂
Holy crap. I love Robert Graves. Goodbye to All That and I, Claudius are two of my favorite works, ever, any genre. I haven’t read The White Goddess, so I can’t comment on that, but I will say I’ve learned more about runes/cosmology (right term?) from you than anyone else I know.
The White Goddess is where you’ll find most of his mystical stuff. I have no issue with his writings, but too many people put far too much stock in what he said within his books to the point that they’ve become gospel in some circles. Some groups don’t even realize that he is the source of their declared “ancient traditions”.
Robert Graves was a fascinating character. I knew there was controversy, especially with that particular work. It was tremendously successful (as most of his writings were, especially after The White Goddess) and also a complete rewrite of the mythos done for profit, a changing of the reasoning behind all folklore to a powerful and singular female entity. I think it’s probably highly influenced by Graves’ own psyche-you’d probably have to go back to his mother issues, which are also very prevalent in his other works, Livia in I, Claudius, especially.
I’m still watching the Sopranos and I don’t think it’s an accident that Tony’s mother also shares the name Livia-my point being that Graves, for better or worse, influenced a whole bunch of creatives, lots of whom probably don’t even realize that he changed or invented what he wanted in order to suit himself and his ideas.
To me that book (I, Claudius-also obviously another Graves’ take on history that is only known from non-impartial sources, ah, what the hell what history isn’t) is the best examination of what I would refer to as ‘karma’s a bitch, ain’t it.’ It’s a delicious take.
But most everything he wrote pissed people off. Goodbye to All That is my favorite examination of what war does to a human being as well as being one of the first works to examine PTSD. It’s well worth reading, and he reveals a lot about himself in the course of its pages, but publishing it did cost him some close friendships, including that of the poet Siegfried Sassoon.
As I said, he was an amazing creative person but he was not exactly a scholar. Fiction should not be mistaken for fact. That doesn’t stop people from doing so, however. I accept that, but also plant my flag in the hill of: if there is actual scholarship, then let’s favor that over fictions.
Thanks Ted, it’s always great to get your perspective on literature.
Got me wondering if there are times in history where fiction rewrites itself as fact, and what the causes of that would be. I think it’s certainly happened with the Bible. War, changes in human experience and technology-could we be on the cusp of another literary shift?
I heard someone recently say that if they are telling you want you want to hear, that is the time you should ask if what they are telling you are the actual facts.
I would suggest it might be along those lines. I’ve seen plenty of evidence for it over the years in this area.
It’s like commercials. Whatever they’re saying, you can pretty much bet their ethos is exactly the opposite🙄
Pretty much!