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A rhyme of Ice and Fire


Cosmic Maintenance Man

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Here now is the complete Double-Dactyl of Ice and Fire, slightly revised and arranged into proper order. It’s hidden in a spoiler block because one of its verses alludes to events not yet revealed until The Winds of Winter. Enjoy!

Madderly-hatterly

Aerys Targaryen

Couldn’t be troubled to

Hear Branden’s claims.

Summoned the father and

Pyromaniacally

Roasted him slowly, con-

Signed to the flames.

Dracally-whackaly

Rhaegar Targaryen

Thought he was born of the

Dragon’s own blood.

Rode to the Trident, then

Apocalyptically

Fell ’neath the hammer and

Drowned in the flood.

Morbidly-torpidly

Robert Baratheon

Drank till he couldn’t sit

Straight on his horse.

Sought to increase his reign’s

Respectability:

Married a bitch, so she

killed him of course.

Hocussy-pocussy

Aemon Targaryen

Forged him a link of

Valyrian steel.

Nothing that he could try

Thaumaturgistally

Opened the lock that its

Mysteries conceal.

Prickelly-dickelly

Renly Baratheon

Married himself to a

Virginal queen.

Better her brother for

Breakfasts of champions:

Homoerotically

Finest cuisine.

Hankety-pankety

Tyrion Lannister

Hid his cheap whore as his

wife’s smiling maid.

After the trial he

Unsympathetically

Choked her to death cause his

Dad she had laid.

Doomily-gloomily

Stannis Baratheon

Traded his gods for a

Cult from the East.

Burned his own subjects up

Ritualistically,

Feeding the flames of the

Fire god’s priest.

Izzio-Rizzinty

Aegon Targaryen

Claims that he’s really Prince

Rhaegar’s dead son.

Despite this dubious

Chronobiology

Swift he comes conquering:

Storm’s End’s undone.

Higgledy piggledy

Lord Wyman Manderly

Sups with his foes, leaving

Nary a crumb.

Wolvering wolverenes

Incontrovertibly

Tell all who hearken that

Winter is come.

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There once were two boys named Stark,

With dead things they hid in the dark,

Then one went with Reed,

Beyond the Wall with all speed,

With Meera to feel a slight spark.

Apologies for using the same rhyme scheme straigh after you CrypticWeirwood but it sounds fun :)

No problem, that’s cool. It’s just the standard limerick, which has been around a long time. It’s easy to remember, and is quite catchy. Plus they lend themselves to being dirty.

A rather harder scheme is the double-dactyl, which I used for my long poem a few postings ago. I find it more difficult, but more satsifying, too. The meter scheme is quite strict, and it has other rules, too. The wikipage has the full description, including this self-referential/self-descriptive example:

Long-short-short, long-short-short

Dactyls in dimeter,

Verse form with choriambs

(Masculine rhyme):

One sentence (two stanzas)

Hexasyllabically

Challenges poets who

Don't have the time.

Alas! I haven’t managed to incite anyone else to write double-datyls. Here’s how to do it:

  1. First you have to find a person’s name that works as a double-dactyl. There are an incredibly high number of names in A Song of Ice and Fire that are just perfect for this, which is why I thought to use the form: Beric Dondarrion, Robert Barantheon, Rhaegar Targaryen. There are loads more where those came from.
  2. Now you choose some ‘nonsense’ double-dactyl for the second line that slyly connects to the person this verse is about. I used Madderly-hatterly Aerys Targaryen, Dracally-whackally Rhaegar Targaryen, Morbidly-torpidly Robert Baratheon, Hocussy-pocussy Aemon Targaryen, Prickelly-dickelly Renly Baratheon, Hankety-pankety Tyrion Lannister, Doomily-gloomily Stannis Baratheon, Izzio-Rizzinty Aegon Targaryen, and of course the crowning Higgledy-piggledy Lord Wyman Manderly. See how much fun those are? Plus I snuck in a bonus one at the top of the second half of the last stanza, with Wolvering Wolverenes, which was just too good to pass up.
  3. Then you have to find the six-syllable word that fits with that person. You can’t repeat one of these in any given poem. I used Pyromaniacally, Apocalyptically, Respectability, Thaumaturgistally, Homoerotically, Unsympathetically, Ritualistically, Chronobiology, and Incontrovertibly.
  4. Now you find the rhyme for the ends of the two stanzas; this is actually the easiest part.
  5. Now fill out the rest of the poem, keeping an eye on the meter so it doesn’t have any extra syllables and so the beats all fall in the right place.

At least, that’s what worked for me. See if you can’t write some yourself; they are really fun.

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Oh my god. My head hurts. I did enjoy your long poem though: doomily gloomily/ Stannis baratheon was my fave :)

Thanks, Rose. Glad you enjoyed it.

The verse you mention is the one verse where I intentionally used alliteration on the beat: Feeding the flames / of the Fire god’s priest.

It’s almost as though you can feel the pounding tribal pulse of some evil ritual as it beats out the victims’ doom.

(It also tips its hat to the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative poetry, where three out of the four beats in a line should alliterate, two before the cæsura and one after it.)

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The Queen of Flame and Lateness,

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ A girl of just fifteen,

She shattered every slaver

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ And mastered all Mereen.

Their fetters, chains, and cages

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Her dragons soon outgrew;

Her town they scorched in rages

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Burnt friend and foeman, too.

The Queen of Flame and Lateness

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Her people did indict:

“We cannot hold you blameless

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ For monsters nor their spite.”

She granted them their wedding,

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Restored their games of death;

No sooner past her bedding

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Came Drogon’s fiery breath.

The Queen of Flame and Lateness

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Looked fate straight in the eye,

“I shall no more be aimless:

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ It’s time I learnt to fly!”

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

She mounted him, uneasy,

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Deserting all she knew.

“I am the great Khaleesi!”

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ So far away they flew.

The Queen of Flame and Lateness

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Sought out her khalasar.

She bloody, burnt, but shameless

⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Met riders from afar.

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I posted this a while ago in the 'ASoIaF in othe wroter's style', it seems appropriate here though!

Message sent by Raven :

Once upon a midnight dreary, the hour of the wolf, or very nearly,

I read a volume called Game of Thrones, immediately I read some more,

While I read this 'R.R. Martin, unaware of what was starting,

something potent surely starting, starting and I read some more.

'Tis quite a series,and as good as any read before

I read them all, much and more.

'Ah, distinctly I'm recalling House Baratheon and it's falling,

Each seperate volume I devoured, numbers two and three and four.

Eagerly I read the second, As good or better I quickly reckoned,

Volume three then quickly beckoned - beckoned then by number four -

I read of Tyrion, Jon and Sansa, characters all with traits and flaws-

Heroes to love, villains to abhor..

And then came the epic waiting, sleeping, eating breath a-baiting

the stories thrilled me with fantastic tales I never knew before;

So I wait for George's writing, waiting as he's slowly typing

Questions now my mind is asking, what will wash on Quiet Isle's Shore?

Who will die by others hands, who will die by dragonclaw?-

Other questions, many and more'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

`George hurry up ' said I,' truly your forgiveness I implore;

But the fact is I was waiting, wondering how long you were taking,

to tell of Jon and Sam and Arya; Faceless now forever more?

Who exactly are the Others? does Greyscale even have a cure?

I wonder just who is R'hllor?

Deep into the details peering, long I studied wondering, fearing,

coming up with theories no-one dared to dream before;

But A Dance with Dragons ended, and the next book's not descended,

And the only word spoken by the baying fans was, `More!'

This I whispered, and the fans murmured back the same word, `More!'

Much and much and much and more.

Back into the pages turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I spied a detail that was unnoticed before.

The fans aghast in fear know the wait could be in years.

Years before we see what threats and mysteries wil be explored -

Westeros and Essos and other places which to tour.-

Words are wind and nothing more.

Open here I flung the chapter, concerned with Cersei's capture,

And the finding of her incest and the smallfiolk chant's of 'whore'.

Then we gained a tiny peek, a sample chapter starring Reek;

But it wasn't quite enough, it still left us wanting more -

Glad to know he's writing but wanting ever more.

What's Jaqen H'gar precisely for?

What on earth wiill Howland say? Perhaps that R+L IS J

Perhaps even Skagos or Asshai's shadow will be explored?

Is Prince Aegon really true, What's the citadel up to?

There are many answers needed Mr. Martin I implore.

How many times do we have to stand and shout 'encore.'

Quoth Azor Ahai; "Hodor!"

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