Poems ✍️

Reiterative poetry it seems proper to say
Has seen little sunlight in present day.
Yet it represents in all regard,
The beginning as English language broached forward.

Base on Anglo Saxon and Anglo Norman tongues
Reiterative poetry sloughed reluctantly along
Combining words in ways most proper
And in some case, crudely brought to halt, a stopper.

Meanings lost or lesser known,
Words and spellings made to fit the event reported on.
Such it is that Piers Plowman was written
By William Langland and others(?) too, in 1462.

Reiterative simply means repeat sounds; words or their beginnings
To occur at least twice in each line's soundings.
Thought to be borne on the method of basic speech
Slow and deliberate as the speaker sought to teach.

Imagine if you will the illusion the teller
Wished to instill in the entranced listener,
Pausing for effect on each word of the reiterative pair,
For emphasis that would be embedded there.

The Vision that Will viewed from his slumbers,
Was perhaps a dream of dreary numbers.
Cascading before his closed eyes,
Were temptations in their disguises.

Along the way the visions, as you will
Enticed the reader to revel,
In tales of harlots and their heady stews
Where pleasure was sought (and found) in their due.

The Church of Rome was ragged about in play,
With fat priest in habits placed on display
Their custom of taking what they may
From the serfs and sundry workers of the day.

Then there is the use of ‘fables' to instruct,
As example, 'Belling the Cat' is one of such.
The moral of the story is two fold and more,
As the men are told they cannot be as independent mice of lore.
But should bear allegiance to the King (the cat)
Who protects, administers and all that,
Taking only 'a little' from each one
So that they can live their life in freedom.
As example, seen in France, the death of the cat
Only brings on horrors (and yet another cat) .

Langland never was quite pleased with his poem
And rewrote it several times and some.
Sometimes using reiterative style
To make his point, but when the method failed
Used free verse to get the story told
That's the way it was in days of old.

So it is related with this Reiterative Poem
Hoping to provide humble examples to some,
Who might wish to try their hand
Writing poetry, as the method properly demands.