An old Arthurian book and a new Arthurian ballad

[@arabiro]

Lovely! Thank you for sharing.

[@amyharless3561]

Oh, I enjoy your creation! Joy

[@FullofEyes]

I'm so excited that you're beginning this undertaking! How wonderful to be adding your own threads and flourishes to this ancient weave of story, it's a bit like watching history in the making - thank you for sharing and please do continue!

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Thanks. I’m quite daunted by what I’ve undertaken so your excitement and encouragement is very welcome and will keep me going!

[@FullofEyes]

@@MalcolmGuitespell May the Lord equip you with everything good that you might devise images and symbols and turns of phrase that will pierce hearers hearts and lift imaginations to consider Beauty as it truly is in Christ, and may He give you grace to write of things and in ways more wonderful than your own skill is able...that, like the tree--voiceless by nature--which nevertheless roars by virtue of the wind in its branches, you would be granted by His Spirit a 'roaring' above and beyond the capacity of your nature, a roaring whose sound will be His Name.

[@TonyMcCollum]

What a marvelous poem! Thank you for sharing it with us. Enjoy your break!

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Thank you, I will

[@lukebrawley8669]

I have only recently become a reader in the past year, I found your Channel directly after reading Tolkien, being inspired by middle-earth and yourself, I took it upon myself to buy a beautiful hand carved peer wood church warden pipe, of which I smoke some of the shires finest through while enjoying a good book! I have most recently finished the once and future king and loved White's take on the classic Arthurian legend. Loved part 1 of the ballad of Galahad and can't wait to hear more!!! Keep up everything your doing because you are awesome!

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

thanks for the encouragement Luke!

[@seanodonnell3683]

Loved the poem so far Malcom. I would certainly be interested in a published book on it. Enjoy your holiday and coffee with cake :D

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

many thanks!

[@DanielKellyFolkMusic]

Enjoy you holiday Malcolm! Wonderful start to what will be a fabulous retelling of Galahad’s story. I’m taking my four small (and not so small) boys camping next week, hopefully returning with tales of cave and forest.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Have fun! Thats a great thing to do with and for your kids!

[@MichaelMartin-gp3kf]

That was truly inspiring and beautiful. I can’t wait to read it in its entirety

[@windnsmoke8702]

After decades, I read The Iliad and The Odyssey. Now I can see the uniqueness of these stories. I can see how they influenced literature. I also discover the influence of other outstanding works on later literature - extraordinary discoveries. Thank you for the Arthurian stories. Greetings from Cracow.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

thanks, I will gradually read my new Arthurian poems out here, as I write them

[@richsmith3255]

Have a good time away, looking forward seeing you when you get back. I loved the Arthurian ballad. Great idea that, with illustrations! I am enjoying a foray into tales of knights errant. I’m reading Don Quixote right now. But I think it will want to read that book by FH White. I recall my father saying that he felt I was prone to tilting at windmills. Not having Google back then I took it as a bit of a knock. Or perhaps more charitably a prescription towards personal productivity. At this point though I see spiritual value in the tales and indeed in chivalry. Meaning, metaphor and imagination. See you when you get back Malcolm.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

thanks, Ive just posted the second part!

[@kobileblanc1020]

I thoroughly enjoyed part 1 and look forward to hearing more!

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

More to come! I've just posted part 2 and started writing part 6!

[@ericdingler672]

Very cool... I got some nice visuals in my mind, as you read it. Now I have to go load up my meerschaum and hear it again. Be safe and have fun on your trip. 👍💨💨💨

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Thanks for listening

[@nicolamills1943]

That was wonderful and I look forward to reading the whole work when it is published. I hope you have a very well deserved break. You have helped immeasurably in lifting my spirits over the past year.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Thank you so much!

[@RedcoatsReturn]

More books I need for my great nieces when they get older 😊😊 Had I met you in Cambridge in 1977, I would have switched to arts and literature 😄😊😉

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

thanks for the encouragement!

[@aletheuo475]

Lovely. Thank you.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Thanks for listening

[@davidbrown5962]

Thanks - set me off for a dig in my bookshelf. It's as if Arthur was there to be reinterpreted from generation to generation.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

indeed I believe each new generation is called to tell it afresh

[@petespensive6578]

A wonderful ballad, Malcolm, thank you. I do hope you have a lovely time in Norfolk. The books on the end of the top shelf behind you seem to defy gravity! What magic is holding them up?!

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Thanks for listening.Yes I sometimes wonder what holds them up too!

[@benoloughlin9225]

That was great and I love the pipe too

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

thanks!

[@davewillson1155]

How wonderful indeed , i find the aurthurian topic most magical. Your trip to Norfolk sounds wonderfull, I've been visiting since the 70,s . Have you been to st Bennett's Abby, a little of my writtings regarding the above . By the broadwaters so very bold Stands a monastery to behold Many a story it has inscrolled Words of benedictines and farmers have been told Both of sorrow and of gold A memory a treasure bestowed Gently swept by curiosity of time so very old Truly a marvel to behold.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

yes, I've seen it from the river but not visited

[@re1v3r]

That was amazing

[@MarkEGreen-rf4on]

Evening Malcolm, Yes, a very nice Folio edition. I never buy new Folio books as they are rather expensive though well produced; you can get one for the equivalent of about 3-4 tins of pipe tobacco! I have picked up Folios for as little as £5, though not in Cambridge. At the end of the day, the contents of the book is what matters. A Dunhill white spot is a beautiful pipe, but a quality baccy in a cheaper briar is probably just as good!

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

indeed so!

[@aaronsmith8616]

Have a wonderful Holiday!!!!

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

thanks I did!

[@Nighttrainpiper]

Just got back from post Easter break. Hope yours is great.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Welcome back! yes ours was excellent!

[@kaidoloveboat1591]

How's the writing going? Eagerly anticipating its completion

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

many things intervene but I am making progress and have written a new section

[@dalenelson8254]

Norfolk! For this North Dakotan, that location suggests some of M. R. James's haunters (do be careful) and Rider Haggard's residence. I might be more keen to go there than to the Lake District!

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

its where we're going to retire!

[@MomUnderGrace]

Beautiful! I would read that if you ever publish it. . . . I wonder how one goes about learning to write ballads well? I've taken a recent interest in them ( thank you for that 🙂). I recently tried my hand at a "ballad", but truthfully I don't know if it qualifies. Certainly not all I want it to be...it was a rushed work. I wanted it to share for our small church on Easter, if it was decent enough. My husband liked it and thankfully those in church did too, but I feel as if it is lacking.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Thanks I think the best way to learn how to write ballads is to read lots of them yourself to get the feel for the rhyme and rhythm in your mind. Try The rime of The Ancient Mariner - that's the one I go to when I want to remind myself how this form really works!

[@MomUnderGrace]

@@MalcolmGuitespell Thank you! Perhaps I may ask you - is there a copy/publication that you might recommend? The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem I have been looking into getting for a short while but have hesitated not wanting an edition that changed it as I've noticed can happen time to time.

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

Can you recommend a bookshop? I visit my partner in Ely a lot and I was rather disappointed when I visited Cambridge to not find many book shops at all never mind second hand ones. Though from your enthusiasm it appears I was looking in the wrong place.

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

Try David'a bookshop in St. Edwards Passage, and, just opposite it, the Haunted Bookshop!

[@Ornamentmountain]

I’m wondering if the comical scene with Pellinore and Grummore fighting in The Sword in the stone inspired the famous Python sketch 🤔

[@MalcolmGuitespell]

That’s an interesting thought

[@amarisb4686]

When your books are published, it would be wonderful if you recorded an audiobook version. I think poetry is meant to be heard, rather than read, and it would be wonderful to listen to it all in your own voice.