The Best (Anonymous) Poem in English, Ever.

Summary

Roughly 400 years ago, an anonymous 'bedlamite', a beggar released from London's notorious Bethlem asylum, may have written one of the most haunting poems in the English language. 'Tom O'Bedlam's Song' blends madness, moon-worship, astrological visions, and spectral journeys into an incantatory chant meant to be memorized and recited aloud. This episode dives into the poem's strange imagery, from the 'Book of Moons' to the 'knight of ghosts and shadows,' and explores why it still casts a spell centuries later.

Key takeaways

• 1The poem 'Tom O'Bedlam's Song' is roughly 400 years old and is attributed to an anonymous wandering beggar from Bedlam (Bethlem Royal Hospital) in London
• 2The opening invokes 'the spirit that stands by the naked man in the Book of Moons' as a protective charm, often linked to astrological or magical texts
• 3The speaker claims to have spent years 'in durance soundly caged' in Bedlam, describing chains ('brave bracelets') and whippings
• 4Tom claims to 'know more than Apollo,' witnessing 'stars at bloody wars' and celestial pairings such as the Moon embracing her shepherd (Endymion) and the Queen of Love (Venus) with her warrior (Mars)
• 5He sleeps in St Paul's 'with waking souls' and dines with 'Humphrey,' an allusion to the phrase 'dining with Duke Humphrey,' meaning going hungry
• 6The final stanza describes commanding 'a host of furious fancies' with 'a burning spear and a horse of air,' summoned by 'a knight of ghosts and shadows' to joust 'ten leagues beyond the wide world's end'

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