tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post112009564849179744..comments2023-05-29T08:58:13.381-04:00Comments on Recycled Knowledge: "To Althea From Prison"John Cowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-71250245557119940082009-11-23T16:50:27.169-05:002009-11-23T16:50:27.169-05:00What kinds of imagery does Lovelace use? and why i...What kinds of imagery does Lovelace use? and why is the poem typical of Cavalier poetry/Isabelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05057576883938856631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-1149556716420427732006-06-05T21:18:00.000-04:002006-06-05T21:18:00.000-04:00medieval pronunciation has been changed; so readin...medieval pronunciation has been changed; so reading the poem with modern english is different. This accounts for the fact that some lines don't rhyme.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-1140659084495700032006-02-22T20:44:00.000-05:002006-02-22T20:44:00.000-05:00to explain the break in the rhyme scheme:confined/...to explain the break in the rhyme scheme:<BR/>confined/majesty,<BR/>it's a translation error.<BR/><BR/>the begining of the third stanza should read:<BR/><BR/>When, like commmittes linnets, I<BR/>...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-1128761826471335442005-10-08T04:57:00.000-04:002005-10-08T04:57:00.000-04:00I think the -y ones are just conventional, for Lov...I think the -y ones are just conventional, for Lovelace as for Blake: "What immortal hand or eye / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?"<BR/><BR/>One of Lewis Carroll's parodies writes "e'e" for "eye", presumably meaning /i/, but this too is poetic diction, not an unaccountable delay of over a century in the Great Vowel Shift.<BR/><BR/>"Thames" might well have still be "Tames" in his day (the "h" has always been silent there, as in "Thomas"), and I'll bet that the vowel of "hermitage" was not yet reduced.John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-1120333325607558162005-07-02T15:42:00.000-04:002005-07-02T15:42:00.000-04:00What do you think about the rhymes that don't work...What do you think about the rhymes that don't work in modern English?<BR/><BR/>- eye/liberty<BR/>- Thames/flames<BR/>- free/liberty<BR/>- good/flood<BR/>- he/liberty<BR/>- cage/hermitage<BR/><BR/>There's also the puzzling break in the rhyme scheme with confined/majesty. It's challenging to figure out which rhymes are simply conventional and which ones reflect French pronunciations still lingering in English. All of that aside, though, I think I'd bet that "eye" is still pronounced /i:/ or /ij/.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com