Grenfell & Hunt introduced this item as 'A letter from a father to his son, giving him good advice, and announcing the dispatch
of clothes and money'.
The good advice in question is in lines 9-12:
ὅρα μηδε|νὶ ἀνθρώπων ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ προσκρο[ύ]σῃς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς | βιβλίοις σου αὐτὸ μόνον πρόσεχ[ε] φιλολογῶν | καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ὄνησιν ἕξεις.
"Take care not to offend any of the persons at home,
and give your undivided attention to your books, devoting yourself to learning, and
then they will bring you profit."
An enlarged image can be obtained online.
Showing posts with label Pedagogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pedagogy. Show all posts
Monday, 12 October 2015
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Heroes for my daughter (I)
Humaira Bachal from Intelligent Life: Pakistan.
Some quotations (how it is with no comment implied about how it should be) -
'Humaira says she told him, "Abbu [Daddy], if you are worried that you won’t be able to marry me off, I promise you that no matter who you produce, even if he is blind or a cripple, tell me where to sign and when to say kabool [I accept], before the magistrate, and I’ll do it, no questions asked. Just let me study." She knew it was a risk, but she was counting on her father’s love and her mother’s wisdom. "When a person is being stubborn," her mother would say, "it’s because he hasn’t understood yet. Once he understands, the severity with which he opposes you now, he will stand behind you with as much strength."'
'She remembers putting on what’s known as the "shuttlecock" burqa, head to toe, with stockings and gloves, and attending the madrassa, where the master taught from behind a purdah (screen). She became an occasional speaker at religious congregations. She instructed 350 girls in Moach Goth in namaaz, prayer, and wuzu, religious ablutions. Six months short of getting her degree, she quit.
Humaira does not name names, and keeps the details vague: there were arguments with the teachers at the madrassa, there was an attempt to kidnap her, her family feared for her safety. It’s clear that the disagreements were fundamental.
"Their concept of women was four walls and purdah. To them women are naqis-ul-akl—of defective intelligence. My perspective on Islam was very different from theirs. In the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, women were traders. Hazrat Khadija [the Prophet’s first wife] was a businesswoman. Bibi Aisha [the Prophet’s youngest wife] was a teacher of hadith, traditions of the Prophet, and fiqh, jurisprudence. In the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, women had been sipahisalar, military commanders; they lived in camps. So is that the correct Islam—or is it four walls and purdah? Islam to me is the faith which gives rights, rather than takes them away. My conscience, my heart, was not satisfied with what they were saying. Why should I take a degree to which I am opposed? What would I do with it?"'
'Mohammad Bachal has fractured his hand, and has been persuaded to retire. He thinks he must have been 18 when Pakistan was created, which would make him 84. He looks nearer 64, lean, rugged, with kohl in his eyes and a red Sindhi topi on his head. “It was jahilpan, ignorance,” he says about his years of opposition. "Even an animal will listen to a well-educated person, but illiterates are influenced by illiterates."'
'The courage of a Pakistani hero involves facing the ultimate fact of death. But the fantasy of martyrdom, where it exists, is largely a male one. A heroine needs a more supple courage. She must negotiate: with her emotions, with her adversaries, with her family, with hypocrisies. But not, if she can help it, with her ambition. "If I can teach a few mothers to read a few labels, that will be enough." That is what Humaira Bachal told herself, when she started her school.'
Some quotations (how it is with no comment implied about how it should be) -
'Humaira says she told him, "Abbu [Daddy], if you are worried that you won’t be able to marry me off, I promise you that no matter who you produce, even if he is blind or a cripple, tell me where to sign and when to say kabool [I accept], before the magistrate, and I’ll do it, no questions asked. Just let me study." She knew it was a risk, but she was counting on her father’s love and her mother’s wisdom. "When a person is being stubborn," her mother would say, "it’s because he hasn’t understood yet. Once he understands, the severity with which he opposes you now, he will stand behind you with as much strength."'
'She remembers putting on what’s known as the "shuttlecock" burqa, head to toe, with stockings and gloves, and attending the madrassa, where the master taught from behind a purdah (screen). She became an occasional speaker at religious congregations. She instructed 350 girls in Moach Goth in namaaz, prayer, and wuzu, religious ablutions. Six months short of getting her degree, she quit.
Humaira does not name names, and keeps the details vague: there were arguments with the teachers at the madrassa, there was an attempt to kidnap her, her family feared for her safety. It’s clear that the disagreements were fundamental.
"Their concept of women was four walls and purdah. To them women are naqis-ul-akl—of defective intelligence. My perspective on Islam was very different from theirs. In the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, women were traders. Hazrat Khadija [the Prophet’s first wife] was a businesswoman. Bibi Aisha [the Prophet’s youngest wife] was a teacher of hadith, traditions of the Prophet, and fiqh, jurisprudence. In the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, women had been sipahisalar, military commanders; they lived in camps. So is that the correct Islam—or is it four walls and purdah? Islam to me is the faith which gives rights, rather than takes them away. My conscience, my heart, was not satisfied with what they were saying. Why should I take a degree to which I am opposed? What would I do with it?"'
'Mohammad Bachal has fractured his hand, and has been persuaded to retire. He thinks he must have been 18 when Pakistan was created, which would make him 84. He looks nearer 64, lean, rugged, with kohl in his eyes and a red Sindhi topi on his head. “It was jahilpan, ignorance,” he says about his years of opposition. "Even an animal will listen to a well-educated person, but illiterates are influenced by illiterates."'
'The courage of a Pakistani hero involves facing the ultimate fact of death. But the fantasy of martyrdom, where it exists, is largely a male one. A heroine needs a more supple courage. She must negotiate: with her emotions, with her adversaries, with her family, with hypocrisies. But not, if she can help it, with her ambition. "If I can teach a few mothers to read a few labels, that will be enough." That is what Humaira Bachal told herself, when she started her school.'
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Reasons to Study Classics
Charlotte Higgins discussed the topic in Varsity: "to inspire, to delight, to disgust, to frighten, to speak to our dreams and nightmares".
Friday, 3 September 2010
Reasons to Study Classics
The study of Greek and Latin involves,
mastering the languages in which two of the greatest, and most influential, literatures the world has ever known are written, and by so doing to break free from the tyranny imposed by their own culture.So wrote Peter Green. See Laudator Temporis Acti.
Friday, 27 August 2010
Isocrates on Blogging
From 1 (Ad Demonicum) 42 (emphasis added):
'Consider that nothing in human life is stable; for then you will not exult overmuch in prosperity, nor grieve overmuch in adversity. Rejoice over the good things which come to you, but grieve in moderation over the evils which befall you, and in either case do not expose your heart to others; for it were strange to hide away one's treasure in the house, and yet walk about laying bare one's feelings to the world.'
'Consider that nothing in human life is stable; for then you will not exult overmuch in prosperity, nor grieve overmuch in adversity. Rejoice over the good things which come to you, but grieve in moderation over the evils which befall you, and in either case do not expose your heart to others; for it were strange to hide away one's treasure in the house, and yet walk about laying bare one's feelings to the world.'
Friday, 13 August 2010
Reasons to study Latin and Greek
Following the debate here about learning Greek to encourage precision in English, I was reminded of this piece [from the Sunday Times of late June 2010], in which it was explained that studying the classical languages 'teaches diligence and responsibility - because they have to be punctual and do their homework without help from the parents' (emphasis mine).
Then, as John Paul Getty observed, classicists 'sell more oil'.
Then, as John Paul Getty observed, classicists 'sell more oil'.
Monday, 21 July 2008
Rhetorical and poetic figures in popular music
Months ago, I began collecting examples of poetic and rhetorical figures in popular music, spurred on by Bill Bailey's thesis that cockney music influenced the great classical composers. Although it may not be surprising to find such figures in the corpus of the great lyricist Cole Porter, a hysteron proteron, say, would not be expected in the works of Robbie Williams. A few topoi and grammatical features began to creep in.
A further noteworthy discovery is that the tradition of catalogue poetry - so popular among the ancients - has been continued by the likes of the Beach Boys and Madonna.
ADYNATON
Until the trees and seas just up and fly away,
Until the day that 8 times 8 times 8 is 4…
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left
Stevie Wonder, As
I'll love you… until the twelfth of never
and that's a long, long time.
Johnny Mathis
ALLITERATION
It's just another manic Monday
Baubles, Bangles and Beads: hear how they jing, jing-a-ling-a
Cole Porter
AMOEBEAN STRUCTURE
Fa, Fa, Fa, Fa, Fa, Fa, (your turn), etc.
Otis Reading
[Often to be heard in the Sidgwick Buttery]
ANADIPLOSIS
When you're not, you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
– the wife of a close friend.
Carly Simon, You're So Vain
APOSIOPESIS
But each time that I do, just the thought of you makes me stop - - - just before I begin
Cole Porter, I've Got You Under My Skin
APOSTROPHE
Roll over, Beethoven. Tell Tchaikovsky the news.
Chuck Berry
ASSONANCE
On the ground your glove I found
With a note addressed to me.
It read dear love I've done you wrong,
Now I must set you free.
Moody River
CHIASMUS
Momma said, 'There'd be days like this, there'd be days like this,' my momma said.
ECPHRASIS
Looking through some photographs
I found inside a drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you.
There were one or two
I know that you would have liked a little more
But they didn't show your spirit quite as true.
You were turning 'round to see who was behind you
And I took your childish laughter by surprise
And at the moment that my camera happened to find you
There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes.
Jackson Browne, Fountain of Sorrow
Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill
But she'll walk a thunderbird like she's standin' still
She's ported and relieved and she's stroked and bored.
She'll do a hundred and forty with the top end floored
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got.
She's got a competition clutch with the four on the floor
And she purrs like a kitten till the lake pipes roar
And if that ain't enough to make you flip your lid
There's one more thing – I got the pink slip, daddy.
The Beach Boys, Little Deuce Coup
EMPHASIS
? Don't you know, little fool, you never can win?
Cole Porter, I've Got You Under My Skin
EPIDIORTHOSIS
You're my first, my last, my everything.
Barry White
EPITHALAMIUM
Girl, I heard you're getting married,
Heard you're getting married, this time you're really sure.
And this is the end. They say you really mean it.
This guy's the one that makes you feel so safe, so sane and so secure.
And, baby, if he loves you more than me,
Maybe it's the best thing,
Maybe it's the best thing for you.
But it's the worst that could happen to me.
Jim Webb, The Worst that Could Happen
LIST POETRY / EPIC CATALOGUE
You'd catch 'em surfin' at Del Mar
Ventura county line
Santa Cruz and Trestle
Australia's Narabine
All over Manhattan
And down Doheny way
…
The Beach Boys, Surfin' USA
Greta Garbo, and Monroe,
Dietrich and DiMaggio,
Marlon Brando,
Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine.
Grace Kelly; Harlow, Jean, Picture of a beauty queen.
Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers, dance on air.
They had style, they had grace,
Rita Hayworth gave good face.
Lauren, Katharine, Lana too
Bette Davis, we love you.
Ladies with an attitude,
Fellows that were in the mood -
Don't just stand there, let's get to it:
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it.
Madonna, Vogue
cf. ps‑Hesiod, Eoiae [Thanks to Sarah Drummond]
But here are some of music's pioneers
That time will not allow us to forget.
For there's Basie, Miller, Satchmo
And the king of all, Sir Duke.
And with a voice like Ella's ringing out
There's no way the band can lose.
Stevie Wonder, Sir Duke
HYPERBOLE
? A trip to the moon on gossamer wings, just one of those things
Cole Porter, Just one of those things
HYSTERON PROTERON
Special agent for the man,
Through Watergate and Vietnam
Robbie Williams, Advertising Space
LOCUS AMOENUS
Beside the garden wall,
when stars are bright,
You are in my arms.
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew.
Though I dream in vain, in my heart you will remain,
My stardust melody,
The memory of love's refrain.
Star dust
In a mountain greenery,
Where God paints the scenery,
Just two crazy people together.
While you love your lover,
Let blue skies be your coverlet.
When it rains we'll laugh at the weather.
And if you're good, I'll search for wood,
So you can cook... while I stand looking.
Beans could get no keener reception in a beanery.
Bless our mountain greenery home!
Mel Torme, Mountain Greenery
METAPHOR
Burn, baby, burn – disco inferno.
METATEXTUAL REFERENCE
It's automatic when I
Talk with old friends
The conversation turns to
Girls we knew when their
Hair was soft and long and the
Beach was the place to go.
Suntanned bodies and
Waves of sunshine, the
California girls and a
Beautiful coastline,
Warmed up weather -
Let's get together and
Do it again.
Beach Boys, Do it again
METRICAL LENGTHENING
Ra, Ra, Rasputīn,
Lover of the Russian queen
Boney M.
NEGATIVES
Greek: I can't get no satisfaction
The Rolling Stones
OXYMORON
Definitely maybe
Oasis
Bittersweet symphony
The Verve
Tonight with words unspoken
you say that I'm the only one
Will you still love me tomorrow?
The Shirelles
PARAPROSDOKIAN
If saying your prayers you like,
If green pears you like,
If old chairs you like,
If back stairs you like,
If love affairs you like
With young bears you like,
Why, nobody will oppose!
Cole Porter, Anything Goes
I've been a pauper, a pirate, a puppet, a poet, - a pawn, and a king
I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing:
Frank Sinatra, That's Life
PARONOMASIA (figura etymologica)
I guess it would be nice,
If I could touch your body,
Because not everybody
Has got a body like you.
Wham, Faith
PATHETIC FALLACY
When the Winter weds the Northern Wind,
The child they bear is snow,
And the branches bow like worried bridesmaids
But the leaves will grow.
Sun and Earth in time will come together
God will give us back our summer weather,
But the mem'ries of that first sweet taste
of love pass away so slow.
Frank Sinatra, Dream Away, Child
PERSONIFICATION
Old Man River
'Cause L.A. is my lady
She's always there for me
L.A. is my lady
She knows how to care for me
No lady's sweeter - you know it the moment you meet her
I've been in love more times, than I care to remember
And love's kept me cool in July and warm in December
It may not have lasted, but each time I thought it was heaven
You name it, I've been there and back
Lookin' for someone who - I'd be faithful to.
Frank Sinatra, L.A. is my Lady
POLYPTOTON
Girls (nom.) who are boys (nom.), who like boys (acc.) to be girls (acc.), who do boys (acc.) like they're girls (acc.), who do girls (acc.) like they're boys (acc.)
Blur
You (nom.) must have been a beautiful baby (nom.)
'cause, baby (voc.), won't you (nom.) look at you (acc.) now?
Bobby Darin
PRIAMEL
I get no kick from champagne,…
Some like the bop-time refrain,…
Some they may go for cocaine,…
But I get a kick out of you.
[Cf. Pindar, Olympian 1 and Sappho fr. 16 LP]
Cole Porter
PROLEPSIS
Look at the stars, Look how they shine for you
Coldplay, Yellow
RECUSATIO
There could never be a portrait of my love,
For nobody could paint a dream.
It would take, I know, a Michelangelo
And he would need the glow of dawn
That paints the sky above
To try to paint a portrait of my love.
Matt Munro, Portrait of my Love
REPRAESENTATIO
When they get to the part,
Where he’s breakin’ her heart,
It can really make me cry,
Just like before.
It’s yesterday once more
…
All my best memories
Come back clearly to me.
Some can even make me cry,
Just like before.
It’s yesterday once more.
The Carpenters, It’s Yesterday Once More
RING COMPOSITION
There's talk on the street. It's there to remind you.
in The Eagles, New Kid in Town
(Opening and before the guitar solo)
Cole Porter, In the Still of the Night (see below)
SIMILE
Short (… ὥς,)
Like a fool, I went a stayed too long
Stevie Wonder, Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Extended
Or, will this dream of mine fade out of sight
Like the moon
Growing dim
On the rim
Of the hill
In the chill,
Still of the night?
Cole Porter, In the Still of the Night
SYNECDOCHE
Blue Spanish eyes (voc.), prettiest eyes in all of Mexico,
Blue Spanish Eyes, please smile for me once more before I go.
Soon I'll return, bringing you all the love your heart can hold.
Al Martino
TRICOLON
Signed, sealed, delivered.
Stevie Wonder
VARIATIO
All the honeys who makin' money,…
All the mommas who profit dollars
Destiny's Child, Independent Women
[N.B. Hebraic parallelism too]
ZEUGMA
You held your breath and the door for me.
Alanis Morisette, Head over Feet
I hope these illustrations will prove useful. Please send in further examples, especially of the ever elusive praeteritio.
A further noteworthy discovery is that the tradition of catalogue poetry - so popular among the ancients - has been continued by the likes of the Beach Boys and Madonna.
ADYNATON
Until the trees and seas just up and fly away,
Until the day that 8 times 8 times 8 is 4…
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left
Stevie Wonder, As
I'll love you… until the twelfth of never
and that's a long, long time.
Johnny Mathis
ALLITERATION
It's just another manic Monday
Baubles, Bangles and Beads: hear how they jing, jing-a-ling-a
Cole Porter
AMOEBEAN STRUCTURE
Fa, Fa, Fa, Fa, Fa, Fa, (your turn), etc.
Otis Reading
[Often to be heard in the Sidgwick Buttery]
ANADIPLOSIS
When you're not, you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
– the wife of a close friend.
Carly Simon, You're So Vain
APOSIOPESIS
But each time that I do, just the thought of you makes me stop - - - just before I begin
Cole Porter, I've Got You Under My Skin
APOSTROPHE
Roll over, Beethoven. Tell Tchaikovsky the news.
Chuck Berry
ASSONANCE
On the ground your glove I found
With a note addressed to me.
It read dear love I've done you wrong,
Now I must set you free.
Moody River
CHIASMUS
Momma said, 'There'd be days like this, there'd be days like this,' my momma said.
ECPHRASIS
Looking through some photographs
I found inside a drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you.
There were one or two
I know that you would have liked a little more
But they didn't show your spirit quite as true.
You were turning 'round to see who was behind you
And I took your childish laughter by surprise
And at the moment that my camera happened to find you
There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes.
Jackson Browne, Fountain of Sorrow
Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill
But she'll walk a thunderbird like she's standin' still
She's ported and relieved and she's stroked and bored.
She'll do a hundred and forty with the top end floored
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got.
She's got a competition clutch with the four on the floor
And she purrs like a kitten till the lake pipes roar
And if that ain't enough to make you flip your lid
There's one more thing – I got the pink slip, daddy.
The Beach Boys, Little Deuce Coup
EMPHASIS
? Don't you know, little fool, you never can win?
Cole Porter, I've Got You Under My Skin
EPIDIORTHOSIS
You're my first, my last, my everything.
Barry White
EPITHALAMIUM
Girl, I heard you're getting married,
Heard you're getting married, this time you're really sure.
And this is the end. They say you really mean it.
This guy's the one that makes you feel so safe, so sane and so secure.
And, baby, if he loves you more than me,
Maybe it's the best thing,
Maybe it's the best thing for you.
But it's the worst that could happen to me.
Jim Webb, The Worst that Could Happen
LIST POETRY / EPIC CATALOGUE
You'd catch 'em surfin' at Del Mar
Ventura county line
Santa Cruz and Trestle
Australia's Narabine
All over Manhattan
And down Doheny way
…
The Beach Boys, Surfin' USA
Greta Garbo, and Monroe,
Dietrich and DiMaggio,
Marlon Brando,
Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine.
Grace Kelly; Harlow, Jean, Picture of a beauty queen.
Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers, dance on air.
They had style, they had grace,
Rita Hayworth gave good face.
Lauren, Katharine, Lana too
Bette Davis, we love you.
Ladies with an attitude,
Fellows that were in the mood -
Don't just stand there, let's get to it:
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it.
Madonna, Vogue
cf. ps‑Hesiod, Eoiae [Thanks to Sarah Drummond]
But here are some of music's pioneers
That time will not allow us to forget.
For there's Basie, Miller, Satchmo
And the king of all, Sir Duke.
And with a voice like Ella's ringing out
There's no way the band can lose.
Stevie Wonder, Sir Duke
HYPERBOLE
? A trip to the moon on gossamer wings, just one of those things
Cole Porter, Just one of those things
HYSTERON PROTERON
Special agent for the man,
Through Watergate and Vietnam
Robbie Williams, Advertising Space
LOCUS AMOENUS
Beside the garden wall,
when stars are bright,
You are in my arms.
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew.
Though I dream in vain, in my heart you will remain,
My stardust melody,
The memory of love's refrain.
Star dust
In a mountain greenery,
Where God paints the scenery,
Just two crazy people together.
While you love your lover,
Let blue skies be your coverlet.
When it rains we'll laugh at the weather.
And if you're good, I'll search for wood,
So you can cook... while I stand looking.
Beans could get no keener reception in a beanery.
Bless our mountain greenery home!
Mel Torme, Mountain Greenery
METAPHOR
Burn, baby, burn – disco inferno.
METATEXTUAL REFERENCE
It's automatic when I
Talk with old friends
The conversation turns to
Girls we knew when their
Hair was soft and long and the
Beach was the place to go.
Suntanned bodies and
Waves of sunshine, the
California girls and a
Beautiful coastline,
Warmed up weather -
Let's get together and
Do it again.
Beach Boys, Do it again
METRICAL LENGTHENING
Ra, Ra, Rasputīn,
Lover of the Russian queen
Boney M.
NEGATIVES
Greek: I can't get no satisfaction
The Rolling Stones
OXYMORON
Definitely maybe
Oasis
Bittersweet symphony
The Verve
Tonight with words unspoken
you say that I'm the only one
Will you still love me tomorrow?
The Shirelles
PARAPROSDOKIAN
If saying your prayers you like,
If green pears you like,
If old chairs you like,
If back stairs you like,
If love affairs you like
With young bears you like,
Why, nobody will oppose!
Cole Porter, Anything Goes
I've been a pauper, a pirate, a puppet, a poet, - a pawn, and a king
I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing:
Frank Sinatra, That's Life
PARONOMASIA (figura etymologica)
I guess it would be nice,
If I could touch your body,
Because not everybody
Has got a body like you.
Wham, Faith
PATHETIC FALLACY
When the Winter weds the Northern Wind,
The child they bear is snow,
And the branches bow like worried bridesmaids
But the leaves will grow.
Sun and Earth in time will come together
God will give us back our summer weather,
But the mem'ries of that first sweet taste
of love pass away so slow.
Frank Sinatra, Dream Away, Child
PERSONIFICATION
Old Man River
'Cause L.A. is my lady
She's always there for me
L.A. is my lady
She knows how to care for me
No lady's sweeter - you know it the moment you meet her
I've been in love more times, than I care to remember
And love's kept me cool in July and warm in December
It may not have lasted, but each time I thought it was heaven
You name it, I've been there and back
Lookin' for someone who - I'd be faithful to.
Frank Sinatra, L.A. is my Lady
POLYPTOTON
Girls (nom.) who are boys (nom.), who like boys (acc.) to be girls (acc.), who do boys (acc.) like they're girls (acc.), who do girls (acc.) like they're boys (acc.)
Blur
You (nom.) must have been a beautiful baby (nom.)
'cause, baby (voc.), won't you (nom.) look at you (acc.) now?
Bobby Darin
PRIAMEL
I get no kick from champagne,…
Some like the bop-time refrain,…
Some they may go for cocaine,…
But I get a kick out of you.
[Cf. Pindar, Olympian 1 and Sappho fr. 16 LP]
Cole Porter
PROLEPSIS
Look at the stars, Look how they shine for you
Coldplay, Yellow
RECUSATIO
There could never be a portrait of my love,
For nobody could paint a dream.
It would take, I know, a Michelangelo
And he would need the glow of dawn
That paints the sky above
To try to paint a portrait of my love.
Matt Munro, Portrait of my Love
REPRAESENTATIO
When they get to the part,
Where he’s breakin’ her heart,
It can really make me cry,
Just like before.
It’s yesterday once more
…
All my best memories
Come back clearly to me.
Some can even make me cry,
Just like before.
It’s yesterday once more.
The Carpenters, It’s Yesterday Once More
RING COMPOSITION
There's talk on the street. It's there to remind you.
in The Eagles, New Kid in Town
(Opening and before the guitar solo)
Cole Porter, In the Still of the Night (see below)
SIMILE
Short (… ὥς,)
Like a fool, I went a stayed too long
Stevie Wonder, Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Extended
Or, will this dream of mine fade out of sight
Like the moon
Growing dim
On the rim
Of the hill
In the chill,
Still of the night?
Cole Porter, In the Still of the Night
SYNECDOCHE
Blue Spanish eyes (voc.), prettiest eyes in all of Mexico,
Blue Spanish Eyes, please smile for me once more before I go.
Soon I'll return, bringing you all the love your heart can hold.
Al Martino
TRICOLON
Signed, sealed, delivered.
Stevie Wonder
VARIATIO
All the honeys who makin' money,…
All the mommas who profit dollars
Destiny's Child, Independent Women
[N.B. Hebraic parallelism too]
ZEUGMA
You held your breath and the door for me.
Alanis Morisette, Head over Feet
I hope these illustrations will prove useful. Please send in further examples, especially of the ever elusive praeteritio.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Loebs and Penguins
While having a tidy up the other day, I found the following quotations about well-know sets of translations.
Next, the story is told of a schoolmaster, who, when confronted by the line non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites [Vergil, Eclogue 3.108], which he regarded as "tricky", asked one of his pupils, "What does the Penguin say?"
The wag replied, "Sir, it says, 'Quack, quack', sir!'"
History is silent about what became of this boy.
Two comments need to be made here. First, I hope that I will never be likened to a siren in any other way. Second, several who should be recognised as "ladies and scholars" are known to have a Loeb with them at all times.The Loeb Library, with its Greek or Latin on one side of the page and its
English on the other, came as a gift of freedom... The existence of the amateur
was recognised by the publication of this Library, and to a great extent made
respectable... The difficulty of Greek is not sufficiently dwelt upon,
chiefly perhaps because the sirens who lure us to these perilous waters are
generally scholars [who] have forgotten... what those difficulties are. But for
the ordinary amateur they are very real and very great; and we shall do
well to recognise the fact and to make up our minds that we shall never be
independent of our Loeb.
-- Virginia Woolf, TLS 1917
Next, the story is told of a schoolmaster, who, when confronted by the line non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites [Vergil, Eclogue 3.108], which he regarded as "tricky", asked one of his pupils, "What does the Penguin say?"
The wag replied, "Sir, it says, 'Quack, quack', sir!'"
History is silent about what became of this boy.
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