Posts Tagged: poetry

  • Partially AI generated image of Beethoven to celebrate ode to joy

    Ode to Joy has its 200th birthday

    This week (on Tuesday 7 May 2024) was the 200th anniversary of the first performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125. It was first performed on 7 May 1824 in Vienna. The Ninth Symphony is a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the supreme achievements in the […]

  • Image from page 364 of "With Byron in Itlay; a selection of the poems and letters of Lord Byron relating to his life in Italy. Edited by Anna Benneson McMahan" (1907)

    Byronic Bicentenary

    Today (19 April 2024) is the 200th anniversary of the death of George Gordon Byron, known to us as Lord Byron. He was a hugely popular poet of his day. The characters in his long poems and his own colourful life have given us the adjective “Byronic”. To understand being Byronic it is important to […]

  • Jabberwocky is a piece of verse written by English poet Lewis Carroll in 1871. Although the poem is one of the most famous in English literature, it is labelled a piece of "nonsense" verse which rather conceals its brilliance. Indeed the word jabberwock has become a synonym for nonsense verse.

    Jabberwocky—brilliant nonsense

    What is Jabberwocky? Jabberwocky is a piece of verse written by English poet Lewis Carroll in 1871. The poem appears in his book, Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. It was the sequel to the famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Although the poem is one of the most famous and well-loved in […]

  • IMAGE actor superimposed over audience. The groundlings were also known as stinkards or penny-stinkers as they smelled of garlic and sweat having come from their workplaces

    Groundlings pelting pippins at Hamlet

    Academics and teachers ask us to revere Shakespeare as the greatest of English writers but ironically they damage him by creating a false perception that his work is high-brow. Over the many years that I have watched Shakespeare plays and read about him and his works. The thing that comes out most clearly to me […]

  • Leonard Cohen sings Hallelujah

    Hallelujah—Leonard Cohen

    Last week we said goodbye to Leonard Cohen (7 November 2016), the Canadian poet turned singer. He sang dark but uplifting songs to the children of the 60s and is as important as Bob Dylan. His music is a fundamental part of the zeitgeist. We mourn him for he was part of the glue of […]

  • Image of wreath at a war memorial saying Their name liveth for evermore -- the ultimate sacrifice

    Sacrifice—lest we forget

    It is the 105th Anniversary of Anzac Day today and I am reposting one of my most meaningful words of the week. Sacrifice means to give something of value, often altruistically, with the hope of gaining something in return or to avoid greater loss. And from this comes supreme sacrifice: to give your life in the belief that […]

  • Finches in niches—Hawaiian honeyeaters evolved from a finch like bird that colonised the islands taking advantage of different niches

    Meaning of niche

    Niche (pronounced neesh or nitch) is a word used in ecology and marketing. In its original use it is a noun that describes a shallow recess, especially one in a wall, to display an ornament. It came into English from the French verb nicher to make a nest. In ecology, niche theory describes how an organism or group […]

  • IMAGE: Romeo and Juliet illustration—not quite a soliloquy

    To be or not to be a soliloquy

    When you mention soliloquy there is only one thing that pops into your head—Shakespeare! Shakespeare was both playwright and poet (and it is his birthday today, 23 April 1564). His language had its greatest power when he was exploring the inner thoughts of his most important characters. The most remembered moments in Shakespeare’s plays are […]

  • Underdog (WOTW) and top dog sawing a log

    Supporting the underdog explanation

    Love the underdog Australians love the underdog, the person expected to lose a contest, game or struggle. We identify with the dogged determination of the humble triumphing over the over-hyped and spoilt favourite. Both sides of politics claim to be the underdog leading up to an election because they fear that being favourite will lose […]

  • The Mad Hatter and the March Hare modified from Sir John Tenniel illustration for Alice in Wonderland

    Far from madding

    Out of ones mind Mad came into English in the 13th Century from the Old English word, gemædde, meaning out of one’s mind often with violent excitement. It also meant foolish and extremely stupid or excited beyond self-control or the restraint of reason. Mad as a March hare is an expression that relates the behaviour […]

  • Purple kiss from Madrigal Communications on Valentines Day

    A few words for a thousand kisses

    On Valentines Day we explore if English provides an adequate vocabulary to describe a thousand different kisses. Robert Herrick (1591-1674) wrote much verse about love and the appreciation of life. He was a poet of simple but eloquent language and, therefore, his work is most valuable in understanding the language of love: Give me a kiss, […]

  • Bragi the god of the Skald, the scandinavian poets who gave us brag

    The shining poetry of brag

    A few weeks ago the word of the week was scold which we found had its origin from Icelandic poets with sharp tongues. The old poets may also have given us the word brag although its history is a lot less clear. The evolution of brag happened mostly outside English which makes the story a […]