Upon his victory at Crown Tournament
By THLaird Colyne Stewart, May AS 50 (2015)
A wolfen duke he was, a countess bold was she,
Down Rising Waters way, they went with sword and shield,
Her favour bore he well upon contested field,
His arm was strong and true, the foe-blood flowed so free,
All who came before him, were forced to take a knee,
Tormot for raven won the northlands golden crown,
Put it where she glad sat, well clad in silken gown,
And made his lady proud, princess for all to see.
Written as a
non-strict copla de arte mayor.
Arte mayor is a line
of nine or more syllables, though it is also the name of a strophe made up of
such lines. The basic pattern was 12-beat verse divided into two hemistichs of
six beats each and having triple rhyme. The primary and secondary stress beats
of each hemistich are supplied by accented syllables while the unstressed beats
between them are supplied by two unaccented syllables. The remaining unstressed
beats may each be supplied by one or two unaccented syllables or a rest beat.
However, this pattern was not always strictly followed.
They were normally
collected into groups of 8 lines (called copla de arte mayor) and rhymed abbaacca.
