The Nephiad: An Epic Poem in XII Books

by Michael R. Collings

Constructed around a key episode in the Book of Mormon, The Nephiad blends the rigidly-defined structures and grand style of Renaissance epic with modern-day scripture to re-create a genre that is at once uplifting and compelling. From readers of The "The epic is an ancient literary genre, but many Mormon writings have attempted to write within this genre because of its grand scope and lofty intentions for communicating vital components of a given culture or belief system. Indeed, the Book of Mormon itself has been called an epic, and it shares many components of the epic genre. Most notably, many Mormon poets have attempted to compose epics, including Orson F. Whitney, Paul Cracroft, and Michael Collings.... The Nephiad is very enjoyable to this fan of Milton, blank verse, and LDS efforts to fulfill Orson Whitney's prophecy for Miltons and Shakespeares of our own.... The way [Collings blends] the standard literary canon with our sacred canon and our cultural history is a unique contribution to Mormon literature." - Gideon Burton, Professor of English, Brigham Young University

Genres: Poetry

202 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Michael Robert Collings is an American author, poet, literary critic, and bibliographer, and a former professor of creative writing and literature at Pepperdine University. He was Poet in Residence at Pepperdine's Seaver College from 1997-2000.

Collings has had multiple collections of his poetry published on subjects such as Latter Day Saint theology, Joseph Smith, Christmas, science fiction, and horror. He is known for his literary critiques and bibliographies of the works of Orson Scott Card and Stephen King, though he has also published critiques and bibliographies of the works of Peter Straub, Dean Koontz, C. S. Lewis, Brian W. Aldiss, and Piers Anthony. His In the Image of God: Theme, Characterization and Landscape in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card was the first book-length academic look at Card's works.

Michael Robert Collings was born on October 29, 1947 in Rupert, Idaho. He graduated from Bakersfield College in 1967 with an Associate's degree, then graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English from Whittier College two years later. After graduating with a Master's degree in English from the University of California, Riverside in 1973, Collings received his Ph.D. in English literature from UCR in 1977, specializing in Milton and The Renaissance.

Before he began teaching creative writing and literature at Pepperdine University, Collings taught at UCR, San Bernardino Valley Community College, and UCLA. He taught at Pepperdine from 1979 until 2010, when he retired. He now lives in Idaho with his wife, Judi. His son, Michaelbrent Collings, is a fantasy and horror writer.

Reviews

[Rachel]

Collings knows his Milton, which shows in the abundance of classical allusions here. Too many of them are unironic, given that the LDS tradition doesn't see pagan gods as part of our pantheon. But Collings does make some effort to integrate Mormon thought into his epic. The muse Urania, the Holy Ghost (also a nod to Milton) is also characterized as Heavenly Mother. There is a mention of artistry as being "counterfeit Adonai". But not as many esoteric Mormonism references as Elias (instead, the esoteric references are to classical mythology).

Laban is given a backstory for disliking Lehi's family: Laban's son was killed on a lion hunt with Laman, and Laban blames Laman. There are other interesting embroiderings of the tale, and Sam is mentioned a lot more often in this poem than in the BoM.

I read this as part of a summer epics class with Michael Austin, Kent Larsen, and Liz Busby. We agreed that Collings did a great job with the epic (compared to many other Mormon epic writers) in choosing a single episode to focus on, with allusions and flashbacks and flashforwards to make the occasion epic. We discussed how the form of the epic comes with the moral logic of the epic, which says that you would definitely revenge kill the guy who stole from you and killed all your servants. And we disagreed about the persuasiveness of the theological arguments made in book VIII, where Nephi slays Laban. He gets this whole shoulder angel shoulder devil thing going on, and the argument in the devil's mouth sounds pretty convincing.

This is not an easy read, but it is unique among Mormon epic poems in its dedication to the form of the epic. Anyone studying Mormon poetry should at least read excerpts from this poem.

[Liz Busby]

Honestly, only people who like and have recently read Paradise Lost should read this book. I don't think I could have appreciated it without the series of classical epics that I read in the lead up to reading Mormon epic. But if you understand the space of tropes that Collings is working with, this one absolutely hits it out of the park. Unlike Orson F Whitney's Elias, he hits all of the classical tropes of the epic: unity of action focusing on a singular hero, yet also alluding to a massive amount of mythology and building a national myth (in this case for Mormonism).

At first I was hesitant to start yet another retelling of the story of first Nephi, which is redone so often by LDS authors, but Collings succeeded at convincing me that he made the right choice. The platform of the narrative provides him with the ability to reach into biblical, Book of Mormon, and Restoration time periods. He also does a great job filling out the story in the tradition of Paradise Lost. I particularly liked the idea that Laman was friends with Laban's son, who was killed in a hunting accident for which Laban still blames Lehi's family. The details Collings adds to the story never try to wrest the narrative away from the scriptural path, yet they add depth to what already exists. I can whole-heartedly recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of both the Book of Mormon and Milton, small as that intersection may be nowadays.

[Gerrit]

Collings does a number of things with the epic genre:
He uses framed tales. He contemporizes (e.g., references to Beowulf, Lord of the Rings, etc). He uses blank verse. He includes heroic epithets to maintain the meter and to characterize. He alludes regularly to both the classical and Christian myths.

Some things he doesn’t do:
He does not begin in medias res. He does not tell a founding tale overtly, although it would have been quite easy to do. He does not have a descent.

Picking the main action of the retrieval of the brass plates and the slaying of Laban is certainly an interesting choice.

Collings’ characterizations are unfortunately rather flat and cliche. Laman and Lemuel have no sympathetic qualities. His interpolations are interesting, particularly the portrayal of the Spirit whispering to Nephi to kill Laban. Overall, the ideas are creative but not very innovative. The poem is derivative without much "newness." Soundly grounded in the epic tradition, the Nephiad falls short in its conversation with the works that came before it.