Because I read The Sillmarillion in three days, the language stuck in my head and I had to purge it by imitation. Here’s a piece of my genealogy reinterpreted into archaic English and some links to help you comprehend it.
No TagsEre the coalescence of America, my ancestors dwelt hither, in these diverse lands. Few be those in these latter days who possess the knowledge of their progeninators, yet I have plumbed the depths of lore and learned much. This New World is peopled o’er with those come but late unto this land and ’tis nary a soul whose kin hast dwelt long herein, but ’tis so with me. Unto the sixth generation hast my blood abode hither, and all did come thence the isles of Britian and of Ireland, though not at all together.
The sires of my father were men of little, yea, even ill repute, drifting across the South of this land. Surely these men came from Ireland, for their name was Murphy, and yet those tales are lost in antiquity and none may discover them again. Fierce of spirit, they were, and shunned the company of other men. Swift to anger and fell of spirit, each father strove with his sons and drove them away under harsh hands smiting. Amongst his brethren, my father was temperate, and much loving of learning. Unable to dissuade his brethren, he in due course withdrew and strove to put off their speech and custom. But the blood of ancient martitime warriors flowed in his veins and into his children, and he became a warrior for country, like his father before him. He was married in haste, and so his history followed him, wheresoever he strode about the wide world.
Of the kindred who boure my mother, much may be said and is known, for they prospered well, staying in the fold of the Church. And they were called Clark, in elder speech Clerk or Cleric, for they were scholars and ministers of the Method and Re-Baptism. Of those not given much inheritance, they labored long in education, for through such study they rose in station and in wealth. Though not counted among the rulers, they remanded many of slaves and lands and estates in the South. All stood on ceremony and occasion, and indeed my mother married for wealth and title, at first. Yet not for long, for she, in rebellion, married my father, a man of small rank.
The labors of my father took us across the globe, and that with great frequency. More oft than not, but half a year was spent ere we set sail in the sky again for another, distant land. And by such, I learned first sorrow in parting, then speed in friendship and its overtures. Grief upon grief was laid up, and while my years were but green, another departure tore assunder unhealed wounds. Yet much I saw of foreign lands, and much I learned of diverse tongues and customs, and came to be estranged from the land of my birth and kindred, whom I saw little.
At last my father served abroad as a warrior-scholar for the last time, and set apart a season to contemplate and begin a new labor, but he knew not what that labor should be. In that time, we tarried in the land of my birth and of my ancestors, America. I was young of heart and innocent; my eye had not yet been turned at the sight of women. But soon the season came upon me, and maidens fair abounded, or at least, I suddenly thought so. But my ways were unpleasing to them, and they shunned me. I forsook my naivete and donned duplicity as daily rainment. I betrayed myself and all bonds of friendship but for the lust of my eye and my flesh. Yet it availed me not …
