Janet: I think you like my snap better than I do.
The two kings are Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England. They met
in France in 1520 on what became known as The Field of the Cloth of Gold to
try to cement an alliance.
In the mid-1540s Henry tried to persuade the Scots to marry their infant
queen to his heir, the future Edward VI, then 8 years old, by invading the
Scottish Lowlands and destroying everything and everyone in sight. This was
known as the Rough Wooing. Had it succeeded the English royal line would
have reigned in Scotland as well as England. Instead, Mary was betrothed to
the infant heir to the French crown and taken to Paris to be raised at the
court. They were married when she was 16 and he 14. He lived long enough to
be king for two years. At his death Mary returned to Scotland, where she
married a cousin and had a son who became, as James I, king of England. He
had already become James VI of Scotland. So the Scottish royal line reigned
in both countries. The story doesn't get much prettier thereafter.
Mark
At 03:26 AM 1/13/2005, you wrote:
>Thanks Sharon and Anny. It's good to get a response (of any kind).
>I'm getting better at writing to order (rather than waiting for
>the muse to strike) - doing the snapshots is helping.
>
>Other people's snaps so far:
>
>My favourite is Mark Weiss's, the pumpkin tart & the kings & queens.
>The only thing is, I'm not sure whether Mark is talking about a particular
>piece of history or some tale I should have read, or is making it up.
>
>Sharon Brogan (winter) - I do like this one, the language of it, but
>I'm getting the urge to put in some punctuation or change the line endings
>so it's easier to read. But that would destroy the poem's rather definite
>form. It becomes clearer with multiple readings.
>But "ice/ on the tree limbs ice/ on mine sleep/ a clumsy skate":
>Are we to read, "ice on the tree limbs, ice on mine, sleep a clumsy skate"
>or "ice on the tree limbs, ice on mine, sleep, a clumsy skate"
>or "ice on the tree limbs, ice on mine sleep, a clumsy skate"?
>Initially I read it the third way and thought, that doesn't sound right!
>Now I think it's either the first way (in which case some punctuation
>might help) or Sharon is for whatever reason trying to be ambiguous.
>
>Quick responses to the rest:
>
>Max Richards (Mike) - this is more about Max than about Mike, I think.
>Patrick McManus (fairy godfather) - sorry, but I'm over this sort of thing!
>Roger Collett (wild weather) - a vivid description
>Gerald Schwartz (mudslide) - the technique of making the poem look like
> a mudslide has worked pretty well.
>Stephen Vincent (father story) - yes, there's a lot here to do something
> with. The line "This embrace of a place and a life" feels like the
> beginning as well as the end.
>
>Janet
>---------------------------------------
>Janet Jackson
><[log in to unmask]>
>www.arach.net.au/~huxtable/janet
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