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Lars Eighner
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:39 am
Post subject: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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Should you ask me,
whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odors of the forest
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations
As of thunder in the mountains?
I should answer, I should tell you,
"From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the Northland,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes.
I repeat them as I heard them
From the lips of Nawadaha,
The musician, the sweet singer."
Should you ask where Nawadaha
Found these songs so wild and wayward,
Found these legends and traditions,
I should answer, I should tell you,
"In the bird's-nests of the forest,
In the lodges of the beaver,
In the hoofprint of the bison,
In the eyry of the eagle!
Thanks to rec.arts.books for the reminder.
--
Lars Eighner usenet@larseighner.com http://www.larseighner.com/
If you want to say it with flowers, a single rose says : "I'm cheap!"
--Delta Burke
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:28 am
Post subject: Re: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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Lars Eighner wrote:
| Quote: | Should you ask me,
whence these stories?
[...]
Thanks to rec.arts.books for the reminder.
|
"Should have just been
Christened Minnie,
But the Vicar
Got the giggles."
--
Mike. |
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Maria Conlon
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 2:41 am
Post subject: Re: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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Lars Eighner wrote:
| Quote: | Should you ask me,
whence these stories?
[...] |
Ah. The HB is to the poem, not the poet.
How timeless some of his works -- make that "words" -- are:
"And they stood there on the meadow,
With their weapons and their war-gear,
Painted like the leaves of Autumn,
Painted like the sky of morning,
Wildly glaring at each other;
In their faces stern defiance,
In their hearts the feuds of ages,
The hereditary hatred,
The ancestral thirst for vengeance.
Gitche Manito, the mighty,
The creator of the nations,
Looked upon them with compassion,
With paternal love and pity;
Looked upon their wrath and wrangling
But as quarrels of the children,
But as feuds and fights of children!
Over them he stretched his right hand,
To subdue their stubborn natures,
To allay their thirst and fever,
By the shadow of his right hand;
Spake to them with voice majestic,
As a sound of far-off waters
Falling into deep abysses,
Warning, chiding, spake in this wise: -
“O my children! my poor children!
Listen to the words of wisdom,
Listen to the words of warning,
From the lips of the Great Spirit,
From the Master of Life, who made you!
“I have given you lands to hunt in,
I have given you streams to fish in,
I have given you bear and bison,
I have given you roe and reindeer,
I have given you brant and beaver,
Filled the marshes full of wild-fowls,
Filled the rivers full of fishes;
Why then are you not contended?
Why then will you hunt each other?
“I am weary of your quarrels,
Weary of your wars and bloodshed,
Weary of your prayers of vengeance,
Of your wrangling and dissensions;
All your strength is in your union,
All your danger is in discord;
Therefore be at peace henceforward,
And as brothers live together."
see more at:
http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/longfellow/longfellow_ind.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/a3n32
Thanks, Lars, for causing me to look, and re-read, once again.
Maria Conlon
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Laura F. Spira
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 4:36 am
Post subject: Re: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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Lars Eighner wrote:
| Quote: | Should you ask me,
whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odors of the forest
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations
As of thunder in the mountains?
I should answer, I should tell you,
"From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the Northland,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes.
I repeat them as I heard them
From the lips of Nawadaha,
The musician, the sweet singer."
Should you ask where Nawadaha
Found these songs so wild and wayward,
Found these legends and traditions,
I should answer, I should tell you,
"In the bird's-nests of the forest,
In the lodges of the beaver,
In the hoofprint of the bison,
In the eyry of the eagle!
Thanks to rec.arts.books for the reminder.
|
Good old Longfellow, providing such wonderful parodic fodder. When I was
quite young I won a prize in a poetry competition in the Oxford Times
with a poem about space travel which began "By the shores of Cape
Canaveral".
The r.a.b post includes this link to a Lewis Carroll parody:
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~bhs2u/carroll/hia.html
which includes the lines:
He would contemplate the distance
With a look of pensive meaning,
As of ducks that die in tempests.
- clearly a reference to "a dying duck in a thunderstorm", an expression
frequently used by my mother to describe anyone with a slightly
melancholy air about them. Is anyone else familiar with this? Ggling
suggests that it's not very common expression since most of the 600+
hits refer to the title of a song by Ten Foot Pole (who they?).
And why did the duck have to be dying in a thunderstorm?
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email) |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 6:54 am
Post subject: Re: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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Laura F. Spira wrote:
| Quote: | Lars Eighner wrote:
Should you ask me,
whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odors of the forest
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations
As of thunder in the mountains?
I should answer, I should tell you,
"From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the Northland,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes.
I repeat them as I heard them
From the lips of Nawadaha,
The musician, the sweet singer."
Should you ask where Nawadaha
Found these songs so wild and wayward,
Found these legends and traditions,
I should answer, I should tell you,
"In the bird's-nests of the forest,
In the lodges of the beaver,
In the hoofprint of the bison,
In the eyry of the eagle!
Thanks to rec.arts.books for the reminder.
Good old Longfellow, providing such wonderful parodic fodder. When I
was quite young I won a prize in a poetry competition in the Oxford
Times with a poem about space travel which began "By the shores of
Cape Canaveral".
The r.a.b post includes this link to a Lewis Carroll parody:
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~bhs2u/carroll/hia.html
which includes the lines:
He would contemplate the distance
With a look of pensive meaning,
As of ducks that die in tempests.
- clearly a reference to "a dying duck in a thunderstorm", an
expression frequently used by my mother to describe anyone with a
slightly melancholy air about them. Is anyone else familiar with
this? Ggling suggests that it's not very common expression since most
of the 600+ hits refer to the title of a song by Ten Foot Pole (who
they?).
And why did the duck have to be dying in a thunderstorm?
|
I recollect Brendan Behan, in one of his prose pieces (I think "The
Scarperer"), describing a gobsmacked person as "like a duck looking at
thunder". HTH
On the subject of the sadly not immortal Brendan (I need little
encouragement), apart from his well known apocryphal dying words to the
nun nursing him ("Bless you, Sister, may you be the mother of a Bishop")
I recollect the publication of "The Scarperer" reigniting the
controversy over Brendan's relationship with the senior figures of the
Dublin underworld. On being asked "Is it true you are friends with some
of the worst criminals in Dublin?" he replied "Well wouldn't I be the
eejit to make enemies of them."
Funnily enough (springing back on topic with lightning speed) my wife
and I were recalling just yesterday that one of our primary school
teachers was obsessed with Hiawatha. Everyone learned chunks by heart (I
still remember most of mine) and had to make artefacts like canoes and
tipis from cornflake packets and discarded curtains. Golden days.
--
John Dean
Oxford |
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CDB
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 6:59 am
Post subject: Re: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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"Laura F. Spira" <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote in message
news:dl0eg7$p6q$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
[Longfellow]
| Quote: | The r.a.b post includes this link to a Lewis Carroll parody:
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~bhs2u/carroll/hia.html
which includes the lines:
He would contemplate the distance
With a look of pensive meaning,
As of ducks that die in tempests.
- clearly a reference to "a dying duck in a thunderstorm", an
expression frequently used by my mother to describe anyone with a
slightly melancholy air about them. Is anyone else familiar with
this? Ggling suggests that it's not very common expression since
most of the 600+ hits refer to the title of a song by Ten Foot Pole
(who they?).
And why did the duck have to be dying in a thunderstorm?
|
"It could be worse..." the duck mused, as the light slowly drained out
of the world. |
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Lars Eighner
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 7:24 am
Post subject: Re: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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In our last episode, <dl0mj0$227$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk>, the
lovely and talented John Dean broadcast on alt.usage.english:
| Quote: | Funnily enough (springing back on topic with lightning speed)
my wife and I were recalling just yesterday that one of our
primary school teachers was obsessed with Hiawatha. Everyone
learned chunks by heart (I still remember most of mine) and
had to make artefacts like canoes and tipis from cornflake
packets and discarded curtains. Golden days.
|
More victims of *Required* *Reading*!
I lost Steinbeck to a really grim passage from Tortilla Flat
(and thus was caught flat-footed by many questions about Travels
with Charlie). I still don't think I lost much by being put off
George Elliot. And really, introducing Dickens with Great
Expectations (instead of, perhaps, David Copperfield) -- what
were they thinking? And now Hiawatha. It's about indians.
--
Lars Eighner usenet@larseighner.com http://www.larseighner.com/
All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality -- the story of
escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times,
how to escape. --Arthur Christopher Benson |
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jerry_friedman@yahoo.com
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 8:06 am
Post subject: Re: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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John Dean wrote:
....
| Quote: | I recollect Brendan Behan, in one of his prose pieces (I think "The
Scarperer"), describing a gobsmacked person as "like a duck looking at
thunder". HTH
On the subject of the sadly not immortal Brendan (I need little
encouragement), apart from his well known apocryphal dying words to the
nun nursing him ("Bless you, Sister, may you be the mother of a Bishop")
I recollect the publication of "The Scarperer" reigniting the
controversy over Brendan's relationship with the senior figures of the
Dublin underworld. On being asked "Is it true you are friends with some
of the worst criminals in Dublin?" he replied "Well wouldn't I be the
eejit to make enemies of them."
|
And aside from his explaining his condition by saying, "I saw a sign
that said, 'Drink Canada Dry', and I've only just started.
[snip on-topic comments]
--
Jerry Friedman |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 8:06 am
Post subject: Re: Happy 150th Birthday! |
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On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 23:54:44 -0000, "John Dean"
<john-dean@frag.lineone.net> wrote:
| Quote: | I recollect Brendan Behan, in one of his prose pieces (I think "The
Scarperer"), describing a gobsmacked person as "like a duck looking at
thunder". HTH
On the subject of the sadly not immortal Brendan (I need little
encouragement), apart from his well known apocryphal dying words to the
nun nursing him ("Bless you, Sister, may you be the mother of a Bishop")
I recollect the publication of "The Scarperer" reigniting the
controversy over Brendan's relationship with the senior figures of the
Dublin underworld. On being asked "Is it true you are friends with some
of the worst criminals in Dublin?" he replied "Well wouldn't I be the
eejit to make enemies of them."
|
Wonderful -- thanks for the quotes. I should probably read more of
what the great man wrote, too.
--
Charles Riggs |
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