File:The Three Dead Kings Part 6 (7161120385).jpg
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The Three Dead Kings: Part 6 “Fiends? Demons? Nay! You’re mistaken! We’re your fathers – salt of the earth – soon forgotten As you flourish, like leaves on the linden, Holding lordship of towns from Lorne to London. Those who doubt your decree, or don't do your bidding, You beat and bind, or defraud for a flogging. Look! The worms use my bowel for a womb, all writhing, Each ribboned like the rope my shroud is a-binding. With this rope I am bound Though the world once esteemed Me. My carrion was found Kissable once. But you – unsound Masters – say no mass, leave us unredeemed!” Fifteenth century Middle English alliterative poem ‘De Tribus Regibus Mortuis’, attributed to John Audelay, translated by Giles Watson. One of the most skilful features of the poem is its juxtaposition of close rhymes (in this verse “fynden/ fondon/ lynden/ London/ byndon/ bondon/ wyndon/ wondon/ iwys/ was/ cysse/ amys/ mas”) which are virtually impossible to replicate in modern English. The first dead king alludes to the “wormus in my wome” – another untranslatable phrase which I have tried to render as faithfully as possible - given that the speaker is clearly male - whilst making a passing reference to modern parasitology. The first dead king chides the living kings for their failure to commemorate him at the mass – another similarity with the Anturs of Arther, in which the dead mother of Queen Gaynore reproves her daughter for the same reason. Shakespeare also makes an obvious allusion to the memento mori tradition in Hamlet’s reference to “good kissing-carrion” – words which might have been borrowed from this poem. The picture shows detail from a wall-painting depicting The Three Living and the Three Dead, from Widford Church, near Burford, in the Cotswolds. A reading is available here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P0vM-zln_o" rel="nofollow">www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P0vM-zln_o</a> ... and whole poem, with critical notes, is here: <a href="http://gileswatson.deviantart.com/#/d52qz9y" rel="nofollow">gileswatson.deviantart.com/#/d52qz9y</a> |
| Date | |
| Source | The Three Dead Kings: Part 6 |
| Author | Giles Watson from Oxfordshire, England |
| Camera location |  | View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap |  |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by Giles Watson's poetry and prose at https://flickr.com/photos/29320962@N07/7161120385. It was reviewed on 18 May 2023 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0. |
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| current | 13:07, 18 May 2023 | | 4,288 × 3,216 (4.28 MB) | Ham II (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons |
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