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I wrote a beautiful, verbose poem for you all, but Riddler went and scrambled the whole thing up! Can you figure out the order of the lines and put it back together again for me? And while you're at it, can you discover what the poem was about?

Else you'll find them quite well-guarded
A drinker who is called the same
An orphan, cinematically
A pound of text with speech not florid
Swedish metal takes this name
When skip was blue, at birth he wore it
You count on them to win the game
Written rule, with one before it
And bywords of reality
Historic sacred melody
Dolly sang it, we adored it
A young pig's tag, an all-time great
Concrete responsibility
Some adorned and openhearted
A certain group has now departed
History doth these create
A father of the highest fame
Together here we rule your fate
With NASA's help, it all was started
In others magic worlds await

A hint that's not really a hint:

Focus on figuring out what the lines are referencing first. Once you do that, discovering the true order of the lines should be trivial. Also, since I said it in a comment, I'll repeat it here: Each line represents something different. Kind of.

A hint that's really a hint:

There are a couple of lines that should be possibly to figure out without knowing the pattern or the order -- I'd reckon that "A young pig's tag, an all-time great" and "With NASA's help, it all was started" are the two easiest. If you can figure those two out, you should have no problem figuring out the overarching theme and working backwards from there.

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  • $\begingroup$ Does the original have a regular rhyme scheme? $\endgroup$
    – CodeNewbie
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 4:43
  • $\begingroup$ Should I know who/what "skip" is? Or is that sort of thing the reason for the trivia tag? $\endgroup$
    – Alconja
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 6:55
  • $\begingroup$ @CodeNewbie the regular will rhyme in some fashion or another - when all's said and done, it will read like a regular poem. $\endgroup$
    – Bailey M
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 13:26
  • $\begingroup$ @Alconja that, among a few other things, is a reason for the "Trivia" tag. $\endgroup$
    – Bailey M
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 13:26
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    $\begingroup$ Does the correct answer involve arranging the lines of the poem based on the chronological order of the solutions? $\endgroup$
    – Gordon K
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 20:07

2 Answers 2

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Each line references

one of the first twenty books of the Old Testament. So the solution is to sort the lines in the order the books appear in the bible

With NASA's help, it all was started

GENESIS - This is the origin or start and is also the name of a NASA spacecraft

A certain group has now departed

EXODUS - A mass departure of people

Swedish metal takes this name

LEVITICUS - This was a Swedish Christian metal band

You count on them to win the game

NUMBERS - You count with numbers

Written rule, with one before it

DEUTERONOMY - This is derived from the Greek for 'second law', so there is one rule before it

Dolly sang it, we adored it

JOSHUA - A song by Dolly Parton

Together here we rule your fate

JUDGES - Can rule your fate if you're up in court

A young pig's tag, an all-time great

RUTH - As in Babe Ruth, probably the most famous baseball player of all-time. He shares his name with the pig given the name Babe in the book "The Sheep-Pig" or "Babe, the Gallant Pig" depending on which side of the Atlantic you reside

A father of the highest fame

1 SAMUEL - Samuel Adams was a Founding Father of the United States

A drinker who is called the same

2 SAMUEL - Sam(uel) Adams is also the name of a popular American beer

Some adorned and openhearted

1 KINGS - The kings in a pack of cards can be adorned (of diamonds) or openhearted (of hearts)

Else you'll find them quite well-guarded

2 KINGS - well guarded in a game of chess

History doth these create

1 CHRONICLES - Chronicles of history

In others magic worlds await

2 CHRONICLES - Narnia is the magic land in the Chronicles of Narnia books

A pound of text with speech not florid

EZRA - Ezra Pound was a poet, who favoured short, simple sentences over a more elaborate style

When skip was blue, at birth he wore it

NEHEMIAH - This references Skip James, a blues musician, born Nehemiah Curtis James

An orphan, cinematically

ESTHER - The name of the orphan adopted in the film Orphan

Concrete responsibility

JOB - A responsibility

Historic sacred melody

PSALMS - A psalm is a sacred song

And bywords of reality

PROVERBS - Expressions that summarize, or provide a byword for reality

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  • $\begingroup$ Though the wording is confusing, you have the right pig, just the wrong name - I'm specifically referencing an "all-time great" with a "young pig's tag" as a qualifier. tl;dr use the last name! $\endgroup$
    – Bailey M
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 21:08
  • $\begingroup$ @BaileyM Ah OK thanks, well you've given me a hint to the NASA clue too $\endgroup$
    – Pete
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 21:26
  • $\begingroup$ Very, very well done! The only thing you missed was that Kings being "adorned" referenced the king of Diamonds, but everything else is spot on! $\endgroup$
    – Bailey M
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 13:19
  • $\begingroup$ @BaileyM Thanks! I've updated the Kings answer. I thought I'd just put my two cents in with the Babe thing, but after your clarification and I got the theme I felt the urge to get just one or two more. Most enjoyable! $\endgroup$
    – Pete
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 14:15
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I made it rhyme!*
*Not really a solution, though.

A father of the highest fame
A drinker who is called the same
Swedish metal takes this name
You count on them to win the game

Historic sacred melody
An orphan, cinematically
And bywords of reality
Concrete responsibility

A pound of text with speech not florid
When skip was blue, at birth he wore it
Dolly sang it, we adored it
Written rule, with one before it

A certain group has now departed
With NASA's help, it all was started
Some adorned and openhearted
Else you'll find them quite well-guarded

A young pig's tag, an all-time great
History doth these create
Together here we rule your fate
In others magic worlds await

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  • $\begingroup$ I tried this too, but I suspect that's not the correct arrangement. I think there are five stanzas, each of which contains 2 pairs of 2 rhyming lines. I haven't figured out how to arrange them yet, though. I imagine finding what they're referring to will make it more clear. $\endgroup$
    – GentlePurpleRain
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 17:20
  • $\begingroup$ I had also considered the possibility of AABB or ABBA. I want to believe they would all follow the same rhyming scheme, too, but I guess anything's possible (like AABB ABBA AABB ABBA AABB, or AABA AABA AABA AABA AAAA). $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 17:43
  • $\begingroup$ Ian, swedish metal should be Nobel Prize? - gold - Written rule with one before it, the golden rule ? do unto others? $\endgroup$
    – moonbutt74
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 19:54

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