I wonder if anyone's ever used the term "mossy-tinctured" in actual speech.

[rymenhild]

If any of you happen to acquire time machines and travel to eighteenth century England, please tell the inhabitants, from me, that all writing of poetry between the years 1700 and 1800 should be outlawed on grounds of cruelty to readers. (Unless you meet an inhabitant by the name of William Blake, who of course does not count.)



From Spring, by James Thomson, 1700-1748:

Now when the first foul torrent of the brooks,
Swell'd with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away,
And, whitening, down their mossy-tinctured stream
Descends the billowy foam: now is the time,
While yet the dark-brown water aids the guile,
To tempt the trout. The well-dissembled fly, [Page 23
The rod fine-tapering with elastic spring,
Snatch'd from the hoary steed the floating line,
And all thy slender watry stores prepare.
But let not on thy hook the tortured worm,
Convulsive, twist in agonizing folds;
Which, by rapacious hunger swallow'd deep,
Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding breast
Of the weak helpless uncomplaining wretch,
Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand.


I warned you.

Comments

[a-trick-mind.livejournal.com]

OMG! Where did you dig that up. Next time I will believe you. LOL

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Sadly, it's homework for my eighteenth-century literature class.

It gives me something to make fun of, anyway.

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's even worse than Manley's Secret History of Queen Zarah!

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I haven't read that. Is it bad enough to be worth mocking?

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

I don't think I could even mock it. It's just painful.

[scazon.livejournal.com]

That is awesome. Painfully correct iambic pentametre is awesome. No other word for it. But the accentuation of the word 'the' in the penultimate line is awkward.

Sounds like one of my poems. God, I was so born in the wrong century… (-:

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

The "the" is legal. Technically, a one-syllable word can be in a stressed or unstressed position, whatever it means.

Do you write about fly-fishing? :)

[nuqotw.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know it was possible to tempt a trout. But the next time I need to plan a sensual mid-March fishing expedition, I'll reread this.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Come to me, oh Trout!

[bluesbell.livejournal.com]

Oh my, that is horrible. I'm rendered speechless.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Do you think an earnest, moralizing poem about fly-fishing would come off all that much better in a less strictured setting? Seems to me the subject-matter kills this one right out of the gate. People who write serious poems about things like that rarely write good poetry in any century.

[terebinth.livejournal.com]

Although the author at times falls into both categories, I dont know whether you'd call John Donne's "The Bait" either earnest or moralizing. Still, you know, fishies.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I never read The Bait before. Have googled it and am delighted, especially since I never saw a really useful parody of the Passionate Shepherd to his Love before. You're right, though, it isn't earnest or moralizing.

[terebinth.livejournal.com]

But how about Sir Walter Raleigh's?

The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I've always thought Ralegh was just as tied to the conventions of pastoral poetry as Marlowe, really.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Thought: you should write a clunky sonnet built around strange phrases you've found grading papers (well, while grading papers. But strange phrases grading papers would be a sight to see, and if someone would merit to see it, it would probably be you.)

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

If I see any good iambic pentameter, I will do so. New stack of papers comes up Friday.