This Ae Nighte, Every Nighte and Alle

By Frank Coffman

A collection of 33 poems of the weird, horrific, and supernatural by an established poet and author of the speculative. Coffman is a traditional formalist poet, primarily a sonneteer, but also an experimenter with various cultural forms and the "hybridization" of new varieties.

The poems are thematically linked, dealing with the rise of a Lich, an evil sorceror who extends his life by magically putting his separable soul into a jewel. The evils wrought in his realm are many. The poems are excerpts from a horrible, human-skin covered book that chronicles his evil reign and its aftermath.

A brief Glossary of the several traditional and experimental forms used in the book is provided.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9780359082681

Book preview

This Ae Nighte, Every Nighte and Alle

This Ae Nighte, Every Nighte and Alle

33 Poems of the

Weird, Horrific, and Supernatural

by Frank Coffman

©2018 by Frank Coffman,

All Rights Reserved

A Mind’s Eye Publication

Dedication

for

Ronald W. Shafer

(Stephen Decatur High School)

and

Dr. Neal Frank Doubleday

(Millikin University)

Men who were great mentors

in the English language and its literature—

and who helped me see the grandeur, the scope, and the potential power inherent in Poetry

Poet’s Preface

This ae nighte, this ae nighte,

Every nighte and alle,

Fire and sleet and candle-lighte,

And Christe receive thy saule.

This is the opening and the introduction of the two refrain lines of the traditional North-of-England folk ballad known as The Lyke-Wake Dirge. The second and fourth lines form the refrains that continue through the verses of the song—meant to help the soul of the deceased on the troubled path from Earth to —at least (if not Beyond)—Purgatory. Lyke comes from the Anglo-Saxon lic [pronounced leech, meaning corpse], and a wake, of course is a watching over the dead before the rites of burial.

The Lich (sometimes written Liche) also lasts in horrific lore as a thing or creature animated by the soul of one dead—especially an evil sorcerer or mage. You’ll find a Lich in this chapbook, along with other assorted and sordid beasties and ghosties and ghoulies and things that go ‘bump’ in the night—or "in the nighte/nicht" as the word is still pronounced by some in the North—and certainly by some in Scotland.

The Lyke-Wake Dirge also gave inspiration to the title of the first important anthology of weird poetry published by August Derleth and Arkham House, Derleth taking his title for that tome from line three above. Derleth used Fire and Sleet rather than "Fire and Fleet as some versions have it, the fleet or flet being an ancient word for floor (of a dwelling [think modern British flat" for apartment]). This latter is, perhaps, the original, since a warming fire, a safe haven floor, and lighted candles present the atmosphere of