Marie Sendlant
From Mizahar Lore
| "The ocean is not hostile; no, it's something much more terrible, much more frightening. It is utterly, wholly, and completely indifferent. It takes absolutely no notice of one vessel or one individual. Away from shore, surrounded by the dark, unreadable water, one realizes how very small one truly is." - Kenabelle Wright, An Account of the Circumnavigation of Mizahar |
| Race | Human | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 47 BV | ||
| Place of birth | Zeltiva, Sylira | ||
| Date of death | 0 AV (aged 47) | ||
| Place of death | Zeltiva, Sylira | ||
| Title | Poet laureate of Alahea | ||
| Skills |
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Marie Sendlant was the last poet laureate of Alahea, and one of the most highly regarded pre-Valterrian poets.
Life
Sendlant was born in 47 BV to Zeltivan middle-class academics. Little information survives regarding her early years, but record survives of her taking exams in languages and linguistics from the pre-Valterrian version of the University of Zeltiva in 26 BV.
Sendlant's first book, Ships on the Ocean Floor, was published in 23 BV. Its critical reception was warm, and Sendlant's reputation increased with the publication of her next two volumes.
So it was that, in 12 BV, Sendlant was named poet laureate of the Alahean Empire. In a society as intellectualized as Alahea's, this was an esteemed position indeed. She continued to hold it until her death in the Valterrian at the age of 47.
Sendlant never married and had no children. No relatives or family members appear to have survived the Valterrian.
Work
None of Sendlant's volumes of poetry exist in their original state. What remains is some 31 complete poems and a few fragments printed in anthologies that were held in the private library of Lord Michael Falconer of Zeltiva, which was housed on his estate in the Old Quarter.
Despite the slimness of her surviving work, Sendlant is widely considered to be the greatest pre-Valterrian poet of any nationality. Her pair of poems, Elegy for Emperor Kovinus and For the Coronation of Queen Kova are generally believed to represent the height of her genius.
She lived and wrote at a time when the Alahean Empire was in its darkest hour, and a pervasive sadness permeates her work. Images of the sea, the wind, and the rain constantly recur throughout her ouvre. She wrote unrhymed verse in the general Alahean dialect of her time; most modern readers have encountered her work in translation, due to the substantive changes in the language since that time.