An aspect of Echo Bazaars world I found very fascianting was its school of poetry, you can learn more aobut them by doing the Bohemian Sculptress storylet, but they are: The nocturnals, The Bazaarines and the Celestials. I am very curious about how each of these schools would sound, how do people picture them? Perhaps Edgar Allan Poe would be a good candidate for the Nocturnals, but I actually picture them sounding more like Vladimir Majakovskij, y’know, a futuristic style of poetry. The Bazaarines I think are the most interesting, just the fact that it is a very mysterious style, but at the same time, a rather pandering one, it pays well… I imagine the style being somewhat close to Rumi, a 1200-century Persian poet. The Celestials I can’t really think of aspecific poet for, but I think I can picture the style, very Romantic, saccarine and pastroal, blergh… I’m trying to get a sense of each of these, since I think it would be interesting to actually try writing a poem in the style of each, just to get a better sense of how it might sound.
I second the thoughts about Nocturnals. I don’t think the Celestials awould actually be THAT cheesy… I’d say, more than pastoral, nostalgic; longing for what has been and never again will be. Something more on the chords of Giacomo Leopardi with a more religious undertone, or maybe a sadder William Wordsworth? The Bazaarines… Despite them being my character’s chosen school (for mainly practical and attitudinal reasons: albeit Magnanimous, Blue is quite the opportunistic one), I can’t really put my finger on it. But: choosing them raises Ruthless, and the accent on both mystery and moneymaking makes me think of a highly allegoric poetry, well suited to be sold to wealthy patrons, but also chock full of secret messages hidden between the words. Maybe Gabriele D’Annunzio, cynical and idealistic at the same time? No, maybe I got it: Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene: an extensive allegory of moral and virtue, packed in a fascinating fairy tale, whose author was, according to Wikipedia, venal enough to protest for a missed payment with a quatrain in which the coined the “rhyme and reason” figure of speech.
That’s a good point actually, their poetry probably have a bit of a sad, melancholic streak. Any poetry made by a priest could probably work, as long as its nostalgic, somewhat religous and slightly conservative.
I chose the Nocturnals for my character, since reveling in the gloom of the Neath is kinda what he does, but if I where to re-do it I’d prolly choose Bazaarine. I like the idea that Bazaarine poetry would be so full of Allegory that they can sneak in a few slams against the Masters and have it go unnoticed. Or possibly they DO notice it, they are just amused by it… I think I second Edmund Spenser there, I figured that the taste of the Masters would probably lean towards the anchient and exotic, it’d be a mixture of the more victorian sensibilities of the Neath mixed in with influences that are so archaic they don’t even sound old, because nobody have ever heard something like that nowadays, excpet maybe in a dream…