Tag Archives: Leonard Cohen

February 7, 2023

Writing Iambic to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” – When Writing Fan-Fiction or Poetry

When I was in the Professional Theatre Program, as part of our curriculum we studied Shakespeare. We performed scenes in class, learnt all about the Iambic Pentameter, and even performed on stage. My year performed “As You Like It”.

We studied iambic inside and out so that we could not only interpret our lines well to deliver a good performance, but so that we could also improvise in iambic if ever anything unexpected happened while performing or we missed our cue or forgot a line. And all those did indeed happen.

What Is Iambic Pentameter?

Wikipedia defines it as:

“a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called “feet”. “Iambic” refers to the type of foot used, here the iamb, which in English indicates an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (as in a-bove).”

Basically: unstressed-stressed-unstressed-stressed in an down-up-down-up way.

We would exaggerate lines this way to find the deeper meaning of how Shakespeare intended his words to be performed. A classic example is the “To Be” soliloquy.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:

So one would then emphasise “is” in the second part.

So that’s iambic.

What does it have to do with Leonard Cohen, Fan-Fiction or Poetry?

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Leave a comment | tags: fan-fiction, Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen, Medium, medium writers, poetry, writing | posted in Medium

December 6, 2018

Solas Hallelujah Verses & Piano (Solas x Lavellan – Dragon Age Inquisition)

By binkyproductions

This is a montage of gameplay clips where Solas speaks the verses written in the iamb as in “Hallelujah”, with additional game play footage, accompanied by my piano performance (audio only) where I play my interpretation of Leonard Cohan’s “Hallelujah”. This video showcases some of the dialogue most pertinent to Solas’s romance with Lavellan, and the tragedy of who he is in regards to their relationship, in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

If you’d like to follow along, here are the dialogue that Solas speaks. You can also turn on CC for subtitles, or enjoy the cinematic version of my edit.

I’ve journeyed deep into the Fade
In ancient ruins and battlefields
To see the dreams of lost civilizations
I’ve watched as hosts of spirits clash
To re-enact the bloody past
In ancient wars both famous and forgotten

Every great war
Has its heroes
I’m just curious
What kind you’ll be

Your Dalish say that demons hate
the natural world and seek to bring
their chaos and destruction to the living
But such simplistic labels mis-
construe their motivations and,
in so doing, do all a great disservice.

Spirits wish to
join the living,
and a demon is
that wish gone wrong.

Lavellan:
Is there a way to coexist?
To live with them, if not in peace,
at least without such active confrontation?

Solas:
Not in the world we know today.
The Veil creates a barrier
that makes true understanding most unlikely.

But the question
is a good one
and it matters
that you thought to ask.

I told myself: one more attempt
to seal the rifts. I tried and failed.
No ordinary magic would affect them.
I watched the rifts expand and grow,
resigned myself to flee, and then…
It seems you hold the key to our salvation.

You had sealed it
with a gesture…
and right then, I
felt the whole world change.

I sought to set my people free
from slavery to would-be gods
I broke the chains of all who wished to join me.
The false gods called me Fen’Harel,
and when they finally went too far
I formed the Veil and banished them forever

Thus I freed the
Elven people
and in so doing
destroyed their world.

I lay in dark and dreaming sleep
while countless wars and ages passed
I woke still weak a year before I joined you.
My people fell for what I did
to strike the Evanuris down
but still some hope remains for restoration.

I will save the
Elven people.
Even if it
means this world must die.

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