#god help me i went OVERBOARD will anyone actually read this? idk man you tell me

[maxfieldparrishes]

masterpost of boe name references/sources

I really wanted to make a post about the names of certain (and by certain I mean Wake, We Suffer, Crown Him with Many Crowns, and Unjust Hope) BoE members because I’m 

  a) a huge-ass nerd who loves doing research and 

b) super fascinated by all Tazmuir’s references so here goes nothing lmao 

  (If we get any of the other names in full, I’ll add them here too!)

  First on the docket: Griddle’s mom (has got it going on). Wake’s name has been pretty thoroughly “decrypted,” for lack of a better word, so I’m just going to compile it all here for funsies.

Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity

Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead

A reference to Shakespeare’s Henry V, Act I, Scene II. For context: in the scene, Henry demands to know if his claim to the French throne is legitimate. His advisors, the Bishops of Ely and Canterbury and 2 other nobles (Exeter and Westmoreland), state that it is, and encourage him to pursue war with France, reminding him of the glory of his ancestors, “the former lions of [his] blood” (I.II. sorry I don’t have line numbers!)

ELY

Awake remembrance of these valiant dead

And with your puissant arm renew their feats:

You are their heir; you sit upon their throne;

The blood and courage that renowned them

Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege

Is in the very May-morn of his youth,

Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.

EXETER

Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth

Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,

As did the former lions of your blood.

Kia Hua Ko Te Pai

A reference to Aotearoa’s (New Zealand’s) national anthem, in te reo (Maori), “E Ihowā Atua.” The line translates as “may/let goodness flourish.”

Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity

you better LOSE YOURSELF IN THE MUSIC THE MOMENT YOU OWN IT YOU BETTER NEVER LET IT GO (OH)

Moving on! We Suffer under the cut (pun not intended but I’m sorry this is so text-heavy!)

We Suffer and We Suffer 

We Suffer and We Suffer

(Likely) a reference to Robert Fagles’ translation of Aeschylus’s Agamemnon. The line, as Fagles translates it, is “but Justice turns the balance scales, sees that we suffer and we suffer and we learn” (250-1). 

For context: A watchman waits for a signal confirming a Greek victory in Troy. He laments his boredom and the current state of Mycenae and the House of Atreus, and complains of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, and her apparent lack of femininity: “She in whose woman's breast beats heart of man” (I.I.still no fucking line numbers!), not knowing of her plot to kill Agamemnon as he returns home from war, in revenge for his sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia for favorable winds to sail for Troy. The chorus then enters, and praises the gods while catching everyone up on the story thus far, including Agamemnon’s sacrifice of Iphigenia at the behest of Calchas, the seer. 

(If interested in Iphigenia’s story, check out Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides.)

It’s also worth keeping in mind that Agamemnon is the first play in a series of three by Aeschylus, the Oresteia, which details the murder of Agamemnon and its fallout, the downfall of the House of Atreus and the end of its curse, and thematically discusses questions of justice, retaliation, and revenge. Very apropos. 

Note: the translation of this line, as far as I’ve dug (so not super far), seems to be specific to Fagles. Other translators of Agamemnon, such as Anne Carson and E.D.A Morshead translate it differently.

Anne Carson: “Justice tips her scales so that we learn by suffering” (I.I.179-180)

E.D.A Morshead: “This wage from justice' hand do sufferers earn / The future to discern ” (I.I.deep sigh)

Moving on! 

Crown Him with Many Crowns

Crown Him with Many Crowns

A reference to a Christian hymn of the same name, written by Matthew Bridges. Traditionally set to the tune of a song called “Diademata” (itself derived from the Greek word for “crown”) by English organist and composer Sir George Job Elvey (the song was apparently composed for the hymn), but arrangements have been updated in the recent past.  

This one is tricky, because this song is Very John, so... perhaps Crown is the link between the upper echelons of the empire and BoE?

Much to think about. Next!

Some relevant verses:

Crown him with many crowns,

The Lamb upon his throne;

Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns

All music but its own:

Awake, my soul, and sing

Of him who died for thee,

And hail him as thy matchless king

Through all eternity.

[...]

Crown him the Lord of peace!

Whose power a scepter sways,

From pole to pole,--that wars may cease,

Absorbed in prayer and praise:

his reign shall know no end,

And round his pierced feet

Fair flowers of paradise extend

Their fragrance ever sweet.

Crown him the Lord of years!

The Potentate of time,--

Creator of the rolling spheres,

Ineffably sublime!

Glassed in a sea of light,

Where everlasting waves

Reflect his throne,--the Infinite!

Who lives,--and loves--and saves.

[...]

Crown him with crowns of gold,

All nations great and small,

Crown him, ye martyred saints of old,

The Lamb once slain for all;

The Lamb once slain for them

Who bring their praises now,

As jewels for the diadem

That girds his sacred brow.

Crown him the Son of God

Before the worlds began,

And ye, who tread where He hath trod,

Crown him the Son of Man;

Who every grief hath known

That wrings the human breast,

And takes and bears them for His own,

That all in him may rest.

Crown him the Lord of light,

Who o'er a darkened world

In robes of glory infinite

His fiery flag unfurled.

And bore it raised on high,

In heaven--in earth--beneath,

To all the sign of victory

O'er Satan, sin, and death.

Crown him the Lord of life

Who triumphed o'er the grave,

And rose victorious in the strife

For those he came to save;

His glories now we sing

Who died, and rose on high.

Who died, eternal life to bring

And lives that death may die.

[...]

Unjust Hope

Unjust Hope 

Te Whaea, according to my search, is te reo (Maori) for “the Mother,” but... I think more in the sense of a title than a relationship, in context? 

A reference to the poem “The Ikons” by New Zealand poet James K. Baxter. The line is as follows:

“Hard, heavy, slow, dark,

Or so I find them, the hands of Te Whaea

Teaching me to die. Some lightness will come later

When the heart has lost its unjust hope

For special treatment.” [...] (1-5)

There is soup made in this poem

And a river used in good old TLT context! (the context is death btw)

On a meta note, James K. Baxter was raised as not practicing any particular faith, or so I understand, but was a devout Catholic in his later years. He was also passionate about Maori culture in New Zealand and heavily embraced it, likely most exposed to it by his wife Jacquie Sturm, who was Maori herself - however, his reputation is not spotless and his treatment of women (including Jacquie) has been heavily criticized. 

That said, this poem... oof

h e l p

“[...] and the fist of longing

Punches my heart, until it is too dark to see” (21-22) 

And that’s all I have so far! As more information comes out (or the book) I’ll update this post as needed! 

Thanks for reading!