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Prophecies, epic ballads, myths, riddles, and clues are all staples of the fantasy genre, and they often appear in poetic form. Over the next couple months, I'll be writing about each of these topics and including some of my favourite examples so you can write awesome poems in your own works.

First up: prophecies.

All poems make use of rhythm, meter, images, and poetic devices to portray ideas and emotions. You don't have to write your prophecy as a poem, but if you choose to go that route, here is some advice on how to get started.

What Makes a Good Prophecy?

Prophecies generally foretell future cataclysmic events or the coming of a "Chosen One." They are a device writers can use to advance the plot, hint at events to come, or create an air of mystery around their characters.

When you write a prophecy, keep in mind:

1. Who is the prophecy about and where does it fall in the timeline of your story?

The prophecy about Voldemort and Harry Potter in The Order of the Phoenix was told just a few months before Harry's birth, and, in fact, Harry's name was only added to it after Voldemort tried to kill him. This is vastly different than, say, a prophecy that was told 1,000 years before the coming chosen one, during which time it could become distorted with each retelling.

2. Who is the originator of the prophecy?

Prophesying is an act of divination. As such, prophecies generally fall under the domain of divine characters: witches and wizards, seers, or astrologers. The type of character you choose to originate a prophecy can affect the way your characters react to it. The prophecy about Harry was told by Sybil Trelawney, who is the Divination professor at Hogwarts. She is portrayed as a bit "out of it," and her students don't take her seriously. The fact that she is the originator of the prophecy makes us ask questions: Should we not take it seriously or have we underestimated her? Does her prophetic heritage matter?

3. What purpose does the prophecy serve in your story?

Prophecies can either herald hope or signal doom and gloom. Tolkien's "Riddle for Aragorn" is meant to bring hope in a time when all seems lost, but the prophecy about Buffy's battle with the Master in Buffy the Vampire Slayer only seems to bring her misery.

4. Is it simple enough for readers to understand?

Some writers think that prophecies have to be convoluted so that readers won't guess who or what it is about. But there's a difference between good ambiguity and bad ambiguity. Good ambiguity leaves just enough mystery so that the full meaning isn't completely obvious, but bad ambiguity leaves readers with too many questions. An effective prophecy will be clear and simple enough that readers can understand the message, while at the same time containing a hidden meaning to be sussed out later.

Prophecy in The Lord of the Rings

All that is gold does not glitter
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes, a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

This poem uses imagery extremely well. The images in the first stanza are being used to say: "good things aren't always obvious" and "a strong foundation won't crumble when hardships come." And the images in the second stanza show something new and good coming out of the old and dark. Altogether, these images work to show how the coming of a new king will bring hope to the world.

The technical details: Tolkien wrote this poem using two quatrains (two stanzas of four lines each) and an ABAB rhyme scheme. The lines mostly follow antibacchius trimeter with an added spondee at the end (however, lines three, five, and seven deviate slightly).

^ ^ - ^ ^ - ^ ^
All that is / gold does not / glit ter.

Antibacchius = two stressed syllables followed by an unstressed syllable. ( All that is / gold does not)
Trimeter = three feet (one foot = two syllables, so six syllables in total)
Spondee = two stressed syllables together ( glit ter)

Prophecy in Teen Titans

The gem was born of evil's fire.
The gem shall be his portal.
He comes to claim, he comes to sire,
the end of all things mortal.

-Season Four, Episode Seven, "The Prophecy"

This poem uses symbolism. The prophecy is about Raven's father, Trigon, coming to Earth and annihilating it. When the Teen Titans encounter the prophecy for the first time, they think that the gem is an actual gem, and set out to destroy it, until Raven confesses that she is actually the "gem" who will become the portal.

The technical details: This poem has one stanza with an ABAB rhyme scheme. Lines one and three follow iambic tetrameter, while lines two and four are iambic dimeter with an added bacchius at the end.

- ^ - ^ - ^ ^
The gem / shall be / his por tal.

Iamb = one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. (The gem was born of ev il's fire)
Dimeter = two feet (four syllables)
Bacchuis = one unstressed syllable followed by two stressed syllables (his por tal)

Prophecy in Final Fantasy

One born of a dragon,
bearing darkness and light,
shall rise up to the heavens
over the still land.
Bathing the moon in eternal
light, he brings a promise
to Mother Earth with bounty
and grace.

-The Mysidian Legend, Final Fantasy IV

This poem uses the images of birth and light to foretell the coming of a "Chosen One," who will rid the world of evil. It is written in free verse, meaning there isn't a formal meter or rhyme scheme. I think the tone of this poem works really well; it's calm, and it makes me think of flight and freedom.

A Prophecy of My Own Making

Our Lady Aquila,
goddess of the Sunless Seas,
we remember your woeful pleas,
the cruel injustice of your plight.

We remember how Tuathe,
your enemy, closed the Maelstrom -
your greatest creation now sundered
from this world, thundering waves
that cannot break through the doors of night
no matter how hard they beat against them.

Let his people bear your mark like scars
on their foreheads. Let them choke
on Tuathe's impudence.
They are the Drowned
and they will bring misfortune
to all who come near them.

Our Lady of light and mischief,
hear our prayers and accept our praise.
One day the doors will open
and the waters will run,
like melt water into a flood.

Until that time, we beseech you
grant us your favour.
Until that time, we will remember
and work for your vengeance on this earth.

This is an example I wrote. A few years ago, Kyle Rudge, our Marketing Director, asked me to write a poem for his Dungeons & Dragons group. He gave me a few parameters and told me some of the history behind the game they were playing. The poem had to discuss a curse, include a clue about how to break the curse, and foretell the return of a goddess. It also had to be written in the voice of one of the goddess' followers.

Getting Started

If you'd like to try your hand at writing your own poetic prophecy, here are some steps to get you started:

1. Jot down the details listed earlier in this blog post.

2. Select a tone: is this a happy prophecy or a sad one?

3. Think of the general message and then brainstorm some images. Stick to things you can experience with your senses (see, touch, smell, taste). Tangible images always work better than abstract ones, as abstract images are hard to grasp. For example, when I was writing "Our Lady Aquila," I decided to work with water images, since Aquila is the goddess of the Ocean, and the cursed people are literally called "The Drowned."

4. Figure out your rhythm. Confession time: I almost never write poetry in formal meter. If you want to try it, iambic meter is generally considered to be the simplest to work with because it's closest to how we speak. But, the absence of formal meter does not mean that your poem won't have rhythm. Each line will have its own rhythm, and you'll be able to get a better sense of it as you write. Play around with the line breaks and see what works best for each line. I ended the second line of the third stanza on "Let them choke" because I liked the way it ended so abruptly; "choke" packs a punch.

5. Experiment! Have fun!

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Prophecies, epic ballads, myths, riddles, and clues are all staples of the fantasy genre, and they often appear in poetic form. Over the next couple months, I'll be writing about each of these topics and including some of my favourite examples so you can write awesome poems in your own works.

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I chose Moby Dick to pair with Macbeth because I thought that both works would allow for a deep-dive into synonymous characters. Not only that, both feature prophecies with specific and comparative language. This provides a perfect pairing with Macbeth because it allows the students to become familiar with the language and use of prophecies in literature, specifically through the lens of two characters self-destructing.

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I chose Macbeth as my priority text due to the high probability that I will teach Shakespeare in the spring semester. While I'm not sure that it will be Macbeth specifically, I wanted to begin considering how I might go about pairing topics and works. For this specific text, I was interested in looking at the use of prophecy and the language surrounding it. I thought that it might be interesting to look at the prophecy's language in detail and consider the paradigms of it. For instance, what constitutes a prophecy? Is there specific language required for a prophecy? Even further, I'm interested in looking at self-fulfilling prophecies.

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First Witch
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

Second Witch
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!

Third Witch
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

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"what's to be, will be; and then again, perhaps it won't be, after all...Some sailors or other must go with him, I suppose...God pity 'em!"

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The Prophets and Fate of the Pequod

This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated.

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The Prophets and Fate of the Pequod

Emily Feenstra

Ishmael decides to go on a whaling voyage, meets Queequeg at an inn, and decides to board the Pequod instead of the Devil-Dam or the Tit-bit. The crew agrees to join Ahab on his quest to hunt Moby Dick, and ignores, or tries to ignore, all bad omens they encounter along the way. The captain of the Rachel looses his child, and pleas for Ahab's help in finding him, thus giving Ahab an opportunity to change his course. The characters, the voyage, the entire plot of Herman Melville's Moby Dick seems to be set up by chance. Is it fate that the characters should end up on the Pequod? Is it fate that the Pequod should end in doom? Or is it a decision? There are numerous moments of prophecy, in which only bad ends are predicted, but is that to say that fate itself caused the Pequod's bad end? The driving force in the story seems somewhat unexplainable, surrounded on all sides by "what ifs." The prophecies embedded in the story provide predictions of the Pequod's bad end without revealing its exact fate, while fate itself is used as an irrelevant excuse for the actions that lead the characters to their end.

The first, and very framing, prophecy of the story occurs directly after Ishmael and Queequeg have signed on the Pequod, when they meet Elijah. After learning that Ishmael and Queequeg have already signed aboard the Pequod, Elijah declares, "what's to be, will be; and then again, perhaps it won't be, after all...Some sailors or other must go with him, I suppose...God pity 'em!" (126). Elijah seems to predict the fate of the Pequod. Declaring that God should pity the sailors who board the ship is to say that something terrible should befall the voyage. Elijah makes a prophecy, thereby predicting fate. But his prophecy is very vague, and could mean any number of things, from mutiny, to a bad storm, to the suicide of Captain Ahab. Conversely, fate has no wiggle-room. Fate simply is, and always will be. Elijah's prophecy thereby acts as an ambiguous prediction, creating an ominous sense for the future of the Pequod.

Fedellah, likewise, provides a prophecy. He tells Ahab, "Hemp alone can kill thee" (572). Ahab takes this to mean that only the gallows can kill him, and declares that he is immortal. Because his prophecy is so ambiguous, much like Elijah's, it is misinterpreted. Being killed by hemp could mean being killed by the gallows, true, but one could also be strangled to death by a murderer, fall off a cliff from a hanging rope, or be killed in any other number of ways. Like Elijah, Fedellah's prophecy holds true, but is so vague that it could have proven true in a number of circumstances. The reader realizes the gallows are unlikely to be the death of Ahab, but still can't understand how hemp will. Both prophecies predict the ultimate fate of their subjects, but their subjects fail to see it because of their ambiguity. As Fedellah predicts, in the end, Ahab is killed by hemp, but not the hemp of the gallows.

Chapter 99, "The Doubloon," offers a unique glimpse at how the sailors view prophecies. One day, a few members of the crew look deeply at the gold coin, trying to read meaning into it. Ahab sees the coins as the world, where "man should live in pains and die in pangs" (500). Starbuck sees the coin as a religious symbol, telling him that "in this vale of Death, God girds us round; and over all our gloom, the son of Righteousness still shines a beacon of hope" (500). Ahab and Starbuck hold very different, almost contrasting views, of the same object. One sees it as the inevitable suffering of the world, and the other as a symbol of hope in a time of darkness. As the scene goes on, Stubb sees it as a zodiac sign which predicts sleeping with the fish, Flask sees nothing but money, and most strangely, the Manxman sees it as a sign that Moby Dick will be caught in a month and a day (500-502). For each person, the doubloon takes on a different meaning. Perhaps it is Ahab's fate to suffer in life, Starbuck's fate to keep hope in times of darkness, and Stubb's to die at sea. Flask's inability to see beyond the monetary value of the coin carries little importance, and it is never revealed whether or not the Manxman's prophecy is correct. For a third time, prophecy is used to predict the fate of the Pequod. In a sense, they all combine. The crew dies drowning in pangs, sinking to join the fish at the bottom of the sea, while never losing hope in killing the whale. But the prophecies the crew makes from the doubloon are ambiguous enough to not predict the exact fate of the Pequod.

Fate itself is what Ishmael and Ahab blame for their actions. Soon after the narrator declares that he is to be called Ishmael, he explains his decision to go on a whaling voyage. This he ascribes to fate. Ishmael explains, "But wherefore it was that...I should now take it into my head to go on a whaling voyage; this the invisible police officer of the Fates, who...influences me in some unaccountable way-- he can better answer than anyone else" (31). The book begins with what Ishmael believes is an act of fate, fate that he should end up aboard the Pequod. However, it is important to have a clear understanding of fate. By definition, fate is something that is "unalterably predetermined" (Fate). A life experience might be fate, such as a devastating storm, a fatal accident, or the birth of a child. A decision cannot be fate; it is a choice. Here, Ishmael makes a decision to board the Pequod. It might be fate that he survives the voyage, but his decision to board the Pequod is not fate; rather, it is simply a decision. In fact, there is a reasonable explanation behind his decision. Ishmael could easily have decided to go on yet another merchant trip, but instead decides to go whaling. Considering his description of a "damp, drizzly November" in his soul, and the decision to go to sea as a "substitute for pistol and ball," he is probably leaning towards suicidal, and looking for a way to encounter death without having to directly implement it (27). Whaling, being incredibly dangerous, is a sensible substitute. Although fate plays its hand in Ishmael's survival, it is not involved in his boarding of the Pequod, despite Ishmael's own explanation.

For Ahab, fate becomes a complicated and convoluted idea. The question is, is it his fate to hunt Moby Dick, or is it simply his fate to die at sea? Ahab believes the former, but I believe in the later. As Starbuck tries, for a second time, to convince Ahab to stop the hunt, Ahab replies, "'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before his ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fate's lieutenant; I act under orders" (641). Somehow, Ahab has decided that it is his fate to hunt Moby Dick, and that nothing can change that. No one can convince him otherwise, not even poor Starbuck, try as he might. But what Ahab believes is his fate could easily be changed. Starbuck could have shot him, the crew could have mutinied, he could have been tied up and physically forced to stop the hunt. If his fate were to hunt the whale, it could not be stopped by any human interaction. Granted, he is not stopped, but he could have been by a single person. Fate is unstoppable, unalterable. Ahab's hunt is alterable, and therefore it is not his fate, but his decision.

With Ahab, there is also the question of madness. He is consumed by his revenge; nothing matters to him but the death of Moby Dick. The first time Starbuck confronts Ahab about the insanity of the hunt, Ahab response, "What is it...commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing...myself. Is Ahab, Ahab? Unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I. Fate is the handspike" (622). In this passage, Ahab himself wonders what is causing him to proceed with this hunt. In this moment, he seems to realize the illogic of hunting Moby Dick, of being consumed by revenge, and notes that any sensible man would stop the hunt and return to his "natural lovings and longings." Because he cannot understand himself, he blames his actions on God, and the fate that God must have in mind for him. However, I believe Ahab has simply let the revenge consume him. No god is controlling him, and no Moby Dick fate is his. He is killed hunting Moby Dick because he chooses to hunt Moby Dick. His fate may have been to die at sea, but this could have happened in the event of a storm, an accident on ship, a shark, or even murder. Being killed by Moby Dick is a means to his fate that Ahab chooses.

Through these prophecies and reflections on fate, Melville creates an ominous story, full of loose ends and unanswered questions. The prophecies provide allusions to the fate of the voyage and its crew without spoiling the story. Rather, they enhance the story with insight into the different perspectives of outsiders, Ahab, and the crew. With these prophecies, we can better see Ahab for what he is: a crazy old man consumed with revenge. Because these prophecies are so ambiguous, nothing is given away as to the fate of the individuals or the true ultimate fate of the ship. Ishmael and Ahab believe that fate is controlling them, and believe so to a fault. Ishmael abandons logic for fate, while Ahab declares himself unaccountable for his actions, acting as a puppet of God's intended fate for him. This belief in fate is what drives the Pequod to its watery end, an end that could easily have been avoided with the implementation of a bit more logic.
Works Cited
"Fate." Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language.
Deluxe ed. 2001.
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. Barnes and Noble, Inc.: 2003.

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The Prophets and Fate of the Pequod This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations.

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Cyclical Nature of Text (As Self-Fulfilling Prophecy)

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Cyclical Nature of Text (As Self-Fulfilling Prophecy)

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First Line: "Call me, Ishmael."
Last Line(s): "Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on a soft and dirgelike main. The unharming sharks, they glided by as if with padlocks on their mouths; the savage sea-hawks sailed with sheathed beaks. On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan."

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"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, / Without my stir"

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Ahab wakes abruptly from his troubled sleep and says to Fedallah, "I have dreamed it again."

"Have I not said, old man, that neither hearse nor coffin can be thine?"

"And who are hearsed that die on the sea?"

"But I said, old man, that ere thou couldst die on this voyage, two hearses must verily be seen by thee on the sea; the first not made by mortal hands; and the visible wood of the last one must be grown in America."

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Dante's Inferno is a massive, sprawling poem that I could not teach alongside Macbeth AND Moby Dick, but I believe that Canto VI would make a great pairing. Dante encounters a prophecy that foretells of his party's downfall. This would make a great read alongside the other works because it would allow the students to examine more prophetic language. Even further, it would allow students to analyze a prophecy that isn't self-fulfilling.

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Throne of Blood is an adaptation of Macbeth set in 16th century Japan. The core elements of the original play remain in tact, though certain elements are melded to fit the setting. This is especially true of the metaphorical witch that appears to the protagonist in a spiderweb forest. This is helpful because it creates an explicit visual of not only the stereotypical prophet, but also of the relationship a character has to their own prophecy. The spiderwebs create a nice visual imagery of the way that the character becomes wrapped up in his own ambition and self-deceit (thus, ultimately leading to his downfall). What the readers must conjure in their minds while reading the paired texts will be made apparent to them. This may be helpful to watch between the two works. Specifically, beginning with Shakespeare, moving to Kurosawa, and then finally returning to Melville.

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I chose this article because it is so vehemently different from everything else that I've used in this project. I thought that if I wanted the students to learn the language of a prophecy then maybe I should have them attempt to create their own. I thought that this activity might help them to more clearly understand the paradigms of a prophecy. This article does a great job of walking through the steps and exploring the language, the expectations, and the content. By having students create and then share and edit each other's work, I believe it will concrete their understanding before moving into the next text/media.

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I browsed for a while before finding the article that I wanted to use. I couldn't decide between this and a scholarly article at first. However, I remembered the discussions that we had about student modeling. I wanted to choose a student writing sample that students could model their own after. This has been an especially important and relevant topic in EDUTL 5345 and I want to make sure that I incorporate some of those lessons. Dynamics mentions the power of student-to-student modeling and it's something that has stuck out to me since. I think this does a great job of making analytical writing, especially the kind that I ultimately hope to have them recreate, approachable. The essay gives them a place to aim for without a specific set of expectations.

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I chose this clip because I wanted to include multimodal media in my linked text set. In fact, I knew I wanted to include two specific films, one of which is Harry Potter. I chose this because I think that this is not only approachable material, but many students may already be familiar with prophecies through this specific context. It seems only obvious to use this as a jumping point for engaging students' interest. This clip shows the prophecy from the film series. This is helpful because if students can understand Harry's role in this self-fulfilling destiny (engaging prior knowledge) then it should help them to understand the character's plights in Macbeth and Moby Dick (knowledge transfer).

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I think that this video clip makes an interesting pairing because it allows the students to encounter yet another kind of prophecy: one centered around an object. While the other materials focus on self-fulfilling prophecies, I wanted to break from that for a bit to show students another way in which prophecies might be used. By including this excerpt I can introduce students to the idea of an item that is prophesied to influence characters. This might be a simple observational tool, something they can watch and set to the side. It might, though, be a nice way to introduce the students to the idea of a prophecy. Maybe some that aren't familiar with Harry Potter might know who Frodo Baggins is and the point of his plight. If I were going to use this as a more centralized text then I would find other examples of cursed or prophesied items to discuss with the class. For example, this could easily link back into Harry Potter's horcruxes (and thus ultimately back into prophecies).

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"For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,[...]"