Amethyst Poetry / Writing Saga # 10 / Epic Poem / IN THE PATHS OF MYRDDIN WYLLT

In the Paths of Myrddin Wyllt  2018

     (In this post I share the incident which began my brief phase of fascination with medieval legend, and how I came across the things of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, and came to write the epic poem, IN THE PATHS OF MYRDDIN WYLLT.)

    A few months ago, at a huge second-hand Book Fair in our nearest town, I happened to pick up a book because its cover at once attracted me, though I don’t know why, and I simply added it to my basket without even opening it or looking at the back cover. When I got home I looked through the few books I had bought there and picked out this particular one, first; and later read it with delight. It was titled: ‘Arthur: The Seeing Stone,’ by Kevin Crossley-Holland; (the first book of his ‘Arthur’ trilogy for children.) The author was obviously a poet as well as a novelist and I loved his style of writing. Being as I was ever, inside, a simple child, one which had forgotten to grow up, I was captivated!  Well written children’s books are always my favourite read; I, somehow, prefer them to adult books. 

    Without ever having been interested in medieval legends before, suddenly I found myself profoundly inspired and all unconsciously my ‘ragged writings’ took on a new theme, for awhile. 

    I became even more intrigued. On the 23^rd of March, 2014, I started to write an epic poem, without realizing it. On that morning, all at once, I had a vivid mental picture of a man in a state of inner turmoil and distress standing upon a hill overlooking a dreadful battle; who had then descended and fled into a deep forest, and lived with the wild animals there for a long time bereft of all human companionship. I had the distinct impression in my mind, that this man was Merlin; but, that made no sense to me, because from all I had thus read, this picture of him did not fit, at all. 

  That afternoon happened to be our once a week ‘town day;’ and before we did the shopping I went to the local library and checked out a pile of books on King Arthur and related topics. Through my study, and a bit of internet research, I discovered that there was such a Merlin, as I had seen; named, Myrddin Wyllt; a Welsh bard and poet of the Dark Ages. And it wasn't long before I found myself reading a description of this ancient legendary man, that exactly and perfectly fitted all I had seen. 

   From that memorable day in March, till about three weeks later, inspiration flowed as an unstoppable river and I wrote an historical poem well over 9,000 words, at this stage, in 43 manuscript pages. The story was to build...a living bridge...linking the Myrddin Wyllt of the Dark Ages with the Merlin of the Middle Ages in a dynamic historical enactment, with full attention to historical accuracy, and historical background detail, with sixth century geographical place names, people, and events, and dates, creating a timeless, mythical story imbued with all the magic forest imagery familiar to us through the works of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.  

   I had been deeply into my amethyst poetry during the first three weeks of March and so it seemed natural to carry on communicating out of this overflowing inner well. Writing the story in rich lyrical language, instead of prose, using alliterative and assonantal techniques, seemed to more easily release thought provoking lines, which would remain in the mind of the reader long after the book was read and put down: touching the heart with a haunting complexity and intriguing beauty in which the mind was irresistibly drawn to 'chew,' in order to learn and discover, for itself.  

  When the work was completed I realized that this poem was not a part of my large, illustrated, and unpublished poetry collection: ‘The Ragged Writings of Everland,’ but a work that needed to be under separate cover, as it was a complete book in itself---12,240 words---having all the elements present of a miniature historical novella.     

   This unpublished manuscript is available to anyone wishing to read it.  I hope that someday there will be an interest in publishing it. 

The work is entitled,

IN THE PATHS OF MYRDDINWYLLT.

(Its Welsh title is, Yn y Llwybrau Myrddin Wyllt.)  

Please feel free to contact the author and request a free copy: 

Email:   judithdeverell@hotmail.com     

I can, also, email this book in pdf format in a word document.

                                   
                                      *

The titles, below, are the next four ragged writings of Amethyst Poetry. The first, A Ring of Love, is an extract, an untitled section, of the above mentioned epic poem.

         A Ring of Love

         Angled Perspectives

         As A Day

         Only Slowly Opens the Rose