Poetry of the Races, Part II
The solemnity and gravitas of Dumer poetry is nowhere to be found in the Khajiiti styling. Known as the Bhurrlesk style, it was originally adapted from the traveling performances of Bretons and Imperials. The Bhurrlesk style is often considered offensive and distasteful by outsiders, as it is primarily concerned with making light of momentous occasions in history or important figures. Bhurrlesk is comedic verse performed on a stage by multiple people, often including elaborate sets, costumes, and visual effects. A famous is example is A Meeting of Kings, which caused great controversy and was banned in several provinces:
Behold! I am Yepper Cameroon,
King of the Older Onion!
Forest-Lord, every squirrel and raccoon swears fealty to me
and owes me their nuts!Greetings, tree-baron! I am Urfel Seppem Veee,
Protector of at least three kingdoms,
maybe more!
I am unstoppable,
unless I am trapped by Jabber Hort
or tricked
Or unless- Agh ! a dagger in my heart!So ends the Seppem line!
I, Rankar Yammer-On,
will make all of Nurf a paradise for Mary Daggins!I am Mary Daggins, terrible to behold and incredibly smelly!
I come from Arbliviork, and each hand holds a different cooking utensil of terrible power!
All of Nurf shall be mine to control, my own personal kitchen!
Unless I can—(MARY DIGGINS steps on a miniature statue of Marvin Seppem and slips on the fake blood which squirts out. He falls, flips in midair, and the model of the White-Gold Tower appears to go up his anus)
(Close curtain)
Argonian “poetry” defies all standard definition. Perhaps it is a quirk of the Argonian experience that makes their poetry so inscrutable to non-Argonians; it is the personal theory of this author that Argonian poetry relates in some way to shared experiences of the Lizard Folk. Their poetry consists of multiple lines of words and letters which swirl and converge into complex patterns. These pictograms, I posit, describe visually how disparate people and stories can intertwine and converge, which is considered beautiful. It is beyond the abilities of this author and his humble printing press to reproduce the poetry here.
Imperial poetry is already extremely well-documented, and is disseminated throughout the continent. Therefore I will be focussing on a lesser known form of Imperial poetry: the Graffito poems. Graffito, as its name suggests, is poetry written anonymously in public places. Despite the anonymity of the form, however, several famous Graffito-Poets have emerged, identified either by signing their work with a pseudonym or by consistency of style. Interestingly, Graffito pseudonyms are always avian in nature; it is speculated that this is either because of the association with birds and gossip in Colovian culture, or because the Graffito tradition arose as a way for human slaves to speak out against their Ayleid masters. What is perhaps most intriguing about the Graffito style is how accepted it is, despite the gossip or scandalous content it contains. Many alehouses in Cyrodiil provide their patrons with charcoal, so that they may inscribe their poems on the sides of the building (and be washed away with the next rain). One famous example was found in the Temple district of the Imperial City, and is often attributed to a serial poet known as The Tittering Tit:
Foul Tyrus, do you not think your neighbors notice?
We can hear you in there, you know!
It is a sordid and a shameful thing you do,
using ropes to make even softest Dibella blush!
Disturb us not, for the mighty stone walls of our beloved
Imperial City can stop any invading army, but cannot stop your pleasure-howls!
Do us a kindness, neighbor Tyrus,
And try using the gag that Alvarin saw you purchase
on yourself!
The Nordic epic is well-known throughout Tamriel, but there is a particular subform I am interested in. The Nords utilize poetry as a form of oral tradition and history, as well as a means of boasting. Epithets are gathered throughout the life of a Nord, and as such the poems can become quite long. As such, the boasting-poems are both a history and a means of braggadocio. Here is an example, which chronicles the (dubious) life story of Tyrik Ice-and-Stone:
Tyrik Ice-and-Stone,
son of Hylfyr Mountian-Home,
leader of the unth- legion upon Sosltheim,
River-road-walker and mace-shaking-leader,
slayer of Urach of the Forsworn,
Terror-Bringer of the Mountains.
Swimmer of the Sea Ghosts,
Island-reaching though shipless,
Tundra-strider and soft-snow-creeper,
a loyal soldier in the service of Father Skyrim.
Bretonnic plays are famous throughout the Empire, their unrhymed meter being emulated in many other poetic forms. However, there is another style that is favored in High Rock, and that is the Bjoulsaen Epic. Bjoulsaen Epics tend to be playful, comic, bawdy, and sometimes downright pornographic. They also have a history as a means of political subterfuge, allowing the citizens of the various baronies and petty kingdoms a means to speak against any despotism that may arise. The Epics are often read in bars and sometimes set to music. Here is an example which is both humorous and blasphemous, chronicling a man who drank too much beauhlery (an extraordinarily alcoholic drink enjoyed in southern High Rock):
Francois in his hearse,
poor man died of thirst
After drinking nine gallons of beauhlery.
His funeral pyre
exploded in fire
And Sanguine delivered his eulogy!
The poems often use double-entendre, misdirection, synecdoche, and other devices. Note multiple meanings of the “Staff” in the following poem:
A wizard from Thresher
used flame spirits for pleasure
and they gave him their every affection.
He conjured ‘em hot
and regretted it not
’til he lost his Staff of Fire Protection!
Another common theme in the ironically-named Epics is over-indulgence. Alcohol and fornication are the most common debaucheries, but more exotic pleasures are also catered to:
Moon sugar is grand,
ol’ dangerous sand
A joyous life is led.
But it isn’t the skooma
that’s bound to doom ya-
it’s the quittin’ that strikes ya dead!
Finally, I’ve included a final example of the Bjoulsaen Epic which involves a character named Noleon Gothel. Noleon Gothel is a stock character for the Epics, often getting himself in an embarrassing situation of behaving foolishly:
Young Noleon Gothel
when leaving the brothel
Found his Tower swollen unnaturally.
“That Khajiiti whore
was healthy; she swore!”
-turns out he had a cat allergy!
Although the Maormer are not considered to be one of the primary races of Tamriel, their culture is of especial interest to the author, and as such shall be discussed. Much like the Argonians, Maormeri poetry is hard to define in conventional terms and is as visual as it is aural. I have been lucky enough to observe a performance of Maormeri poetry by a traveling group in a port in the south coast of Valenwood. Maormeri poetry consists of the poet singing chords while the colors of his prismatic body shift and swirl; a dance performed without any movement of the body. I find these poetic performances to be incredibly hypnotic, and transcendentally beautiful.