Warrior Poets

Warrior Poets are mythical beings.  That is to say there are no armies of Warriors who are Poets or Poets who are Warriors.  The Warrior Poet is said to have dedicated the development of mind and body as one.  

The concept of a Warrior Poet is a Scotch-Irish creation based on a several thousand year old mythology of the Irish Fianna, who were small, semi-independent warrior bands who lived apart from society in the forests as bandits, mercenaries, and hunters, but could be called upon by kings in times of war.

Membership was subject to rigorous tests. In one such test the applicant would stand in a waist-deep hole armed with a shield while nine warriors threw spears at him; if he was wounded, he failed. In another his hair would be braided, and he would be pursued through the forest; he would fail if he was caught, if a branch cracked under his feet, or if the braids in his hair were disturbed. He would have to be able to leap over a branch the height of his forehead, pass under one as low as his knee, and pull a thorn from his foot without slowing down. He also needed to be a skilled poet.



In more modern times, the concept of Warrior Poets has grown and been modified to include followers of the Bushido Code of Japan; the followers of the Shambhala teachings of Tibet; the Spartans; and the Medieval Knights, particularly the Knights Templar.  Since the first World War, the linking of the term Warrior Poet to only a group of men of the noble class dedicated to the crafts of warfare, as well as intellectual study and reflection has disappeared in favor of applying those traits to an individual.



Sgt York would not be considered a Warrior Poet, but LtCol John McCrea who wrote “In Flanders Field” most assuredly would.  Both came to prominence in WW1.  I suppose the modern day Warrior Poets won’t be identified immediately and we’ll have to wait until their intellectual treatises, poetry, or philosophy is published and studied.  It’s a shame, since many of these people, both male and female, are already emerging through the internet in chat rooms and in blogs, but no one is capturing the prose for posterity.  There has been some truly insightful writing that has crossed my path but I never thought to capture it and save it.