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Notes -
I was thinking especially of Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising trilogy, and to a lesser extent of people like Dianna Wynne Jones or Alan Garner’s Weirdstone of Brisengamen.
The magic in the Dark of Rising isn’t chaotic, but we aren’t told the rules. Some of the characters (the Old Ones) know how things work but one of the big themes is that even though the Old Ones are on our side and appear normal most of the time, their true knowledge make them as distant from us as the stars in the heavens.
The magic works for the reader because it’s not arbitrary. The author is very careful that the magic feels right rather than thinks right. And many of the plot points are foreshadowed by a rhyme that runs through the whole series, so that people aren’t surprised when they turn up.
In general I think that old English fantasy tended to run much more heavily on imagery and allegory, and was generally written by students of ancient languages (Norse and Welsh, usually). Modern fantasy seems to be written by nerds and feels much more like engineering code (reaching an apogee in the LitRPG genre). None of this is bad, obviously, but I feel that something has been lost.
When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back:
Three from the circle, three from the track,
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.
Iron for the birthday, bronze carried long;
Wood from the burning, stone out of song;
Fire in the candle-ring, water from the thaw;
Six signs, the circle, and the grail gone before.
Fire on the mountain shall find the harp of gold,
Played to wake the sleepers, oldest of the old;
Power of the the Greenwitch, lost beneath the sea,
All shall find the light at last, silver on the tree.
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