jazzy_dave (
jazzy_dave) wrote2014-08-23 05:32 pm
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Poem Of The Week
Thomas Hardy was a poet as well as being a novelist.
The Pity of It
BY THOMAS HARDY
April 1915
I walked in loamy Wessex lanes, afar
From rail-track and from highway, and I heard
In field and farmstead many an ancient word
Of local lineage like 'Thu bist,' 'Er war,'
'Ich woll', 'Er sholl', and by-talk similar,
Nigh as they speak who in this month's moon gird
At England's very loins, thereunto spurred
By gangs whose glory threats and slaughters are.
Then seemed a Heart crying: 'Whosoever they be
At root and bottom of this, who flung this flame
Between kin folk kin tongued even as are we,
'Sinister, ugly, lurid, be their fame;
May their familiars grow to shun their name,
And their brood perish everlastingly.'
Source: Thomas Hardy: The Complete Poems (Palgrave, 2001)
The Pity of It
BY THOMAS HARDY
April 1915
I walked in loamy Wessex lanes, afar
From rail-track and from highway, and I heard
In field and farmstead many an ancient word
Of local lineage like 'Thu bist,' 'Er war,'
'Ich woll', 'Er sholl', and by-talk similar,
Nigh as they speak who in this month's moon gird
At England's very loins, thereunto spurred
By gangs whose glory threats and slaughters are.
Then seemed a Heart crying: 'Whosoever they be
At root and bottom of this, who flung this flame
Between kin folk kin tongued even as are we,
'Sinister, ugly, lurid, be their fame;
May their familiars grow to shun their name,
And their brood perish everlastingly.'
Source: Thomas Hardy: The Complete Poems (Palgrave, 2001)
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thu bist = "thou beest": du bist
er war = "he were": er war
ich woll = "I will": ich will
er sholl = "he shall": er soll
And from this, he's drawing the point that the English and the Germans are of common descent and common linguistic heritage and it's a damned shame for them to be killing each other.
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"At home in the barton you said thee and thou,
And thik oon, and theäs oon, and t'other; but now
Your talking quite fits 'ee for high compa-ny!" —
"Some polish is gained with one's ruin," said she.
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Hugs, Jon
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I just found out that DH Lawrence wrote poetry, too. I didn't like it, though.