Brief Article on ³Documentation for Poetry Competitions²
by Lady Tehair MacDiarmada

I thought I would include a few points related to A&S competition documentation of poetry that I hope a contestant will find useful.  

1)      It is easier to write a poem based on a period form/exact period piece than it is to just write a poem and hope to document it.            

I have found to my own sorrow it is very difficult, especially when you are just learning about period poetry, to try to document something that you have already written that you did not base on anything in particular.  As you progress in your studies of poetry you will notice that period poetry has a very different aesthetic from our modern poetry.            

Therefore, it is MUCH easier to start with a period piece as your documentation and to work with its style.  It is much easier to look up primary and critical sources about a specific poet or poem than to have no idea where to start.  

2)      Documentation is more than just a bunch of references or loose poems that you give to the judge without an explanation of why you are handing it to him or her.  Documentation is a well-reasoned argument that you make to the judge that persuades the judge that you know what you are talking about.             

In general your argument needs to cover the following: (i) what elements of your poem are period, (ii) what elements of your poem are not period, (iii) if you used non-period elements you need to show that you consciously chose to do so for good reasons which you will set forth, and (iv) you need to fit your poem into the general scheme of Medieval/Renaissance poetry.  You also need to cite authority to back up each of your premises.  (See my next point.)             

Specific questions your documentation should cover are: (i) Did you describe how your rhyme scheme and structure were period?  (ii) Did you discuss what period style and conventions you used?  (iii) Did you show you had an understanding of the period style/conventions you were trying to use? (iv) Did you use period imagery? (v) If some of your poem's themes were SCA-related, did you blend them well with the period style? vi) Was the subject matter of the poem period?  (vii) Did you use period devices (e.g. alliteration, Allegory, narrative verse, advice )? (viii) Were there any obvious anachronistic elements or obvious modernities used in the poem and if so did you explain that they were for effect or for some other valid artistic reason?  (ix) Did you appropriately use language (complex versus simple rhymes, or alliteration) and was the language time period appropriate? (Some words did not exist in period or did not have their modern meanings in period)- you can check this point against the Oxford English Dictionary which list word origins by location and time period).  The more of these points that you can address in your argument, the better your documentation will be.  

3)      When documenting rhyme schemes and structure, go to period poems in their original language (and then read the translations).  

It is much easier even if you cannot understand a word they wrote to see the structure of  the poem in the original language.  Most translations that are side by side with the original will give you a hint on pronunciation guides.  Read the poem out loud and get a sense of the sound since poetry is made to be spoken.  Don't rely on rhyme schemes and structures in translations alone.  

4)      You can't get around it, you need to use primary sources.            

To document poetry well, it helps to have read lots of period poetry (primary sources). Absent that, it helps to read lots of critical commentary (secondary sources) about period poetry and then read the poems about which they critics are writing.  Our   Pearls (Ed: Atlantian kingdom A&S order) and Laurels in poetry are there to help you by directing you to sources, but nothing beats your reading lots of poetry and commentary in a given genre.  

5)      A pet peeve: if the poetry contest has a particular theme please be sure to address in your written documentation (and in your oral introduction if there is an oral portion to the competition) how your poem is appropriate given the theme or give a good enough explanation of how to make it fit if it is  not clear that it is a good fit from the title.          

I hope that these hints will help you all write better poetry documentation.  I also hope I have not scared anyone off with this list!  We all need to start somewhere with an attempt at documentation.