The Kingis Quair

Today of course millions around the globe will mark the death in 1437 of King James the first of Scotland, universally celebrated as the author of The Kingis Quair, a long poem that marked a high point in the work of the Scottish Chaucerians. Written in rime royal, the same stanzaic form used in the Canterbury Tales, The Kingis Quair is an example of the medieval "dream vision," in which the bulk of the work recounts a narrator's, well, dream vision.

What, you may say, the hell are you talking about? Well, it's pretty simple. When I read The Kingis Quair in school, I liked it. And it doesn't hurt to be reminded that of all the works of art that we may attach ourselves to, they are only the proverbial tip of the iceberg: there are millions more that we will never get to experience unless we get lucky. Often when we do experience them, we find that they are very good. Even if you try to be open to new experiences, there's always much more of which you are unaware. Which is a good thing to remember.