Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Marvell...ous Pun


......My vegatable love should grow
Vaster than empires and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state;
Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear
Time's wingEd chariot hurying near;.....



Thanks to Croydonian for whose intellectual, blog this is to silly. He knows me so well.I hope by quoting " To his coy Mistress " ..I can disguise the fact that this is basically any old nonsense in between proper posts as promised. On the subject of Puns I liked " The Adoration of the Maggie", when the new statue went up.




Poetry Note

Incidentally the line " My vegetable love " is an interesting one alluding to the medieval categories of life in which the quality of “Vegetable “ was growth in what CS Lewis called the “Medieval Model” in “Discarded Image”. It is an allusion to a body of quasi scientific knowledge which still has currency at that time as well as an implicit bawdy pun and a stylistic grace note . Having only the quality of growth the poet imagines the process reaching absurd lengths.Its hard to recaputure now ,but to the Medieval and early moden mind this quality of growth was god given and so even in a bawdy and fantastical episiode like this there is a suggestion of the sacred.


( ..and I`ve spent all morning learining to sell a new Health and Safety Product ..is this justice? NO!!!)

28 comments:

Croydonian said...

'Marvellous'....

Anonymous said...

C _ "Marvellous"
Once again, 'hats off!' to C!
(Had I but world enough and time to express my admiration......)

Croydonian said...

Factoids corner - he preceded Prescott as a Hull MP. Fair to say that the quality of that city's MPs has taken a nosedive since,

Newmania said...

....what are we going to do with you C?

Anonymous said...

You are too clever for us by far. I do adore this poem, I had to learn it off by heart for my A'level. I hope you recite it to Mrs M, along with Donne and Herbert.

Anonymous said...

Should be Mrs N, of course...

Anonymous said...

Don't knock it, Ellee, there could well be a Mrs. M. In fact there could be a Mrs. A, B, C, D...

Polygamy is a big problem in Islington. There was one man called Parvez Noman, a devout Muslim of Thorpedale Road, who had 26 wives and 19 mistresses. Between them, they have 72 children and took over the Sure Start's under 5s centre. The story was given coverage in the Islington Journal and in all the tabloids. Local Conservatives are leading the calls to save the centre from closure at the hands of those nasty Fib Dums. David Cameron is said to be backing the campaign.

Anonymous said...

re. JH: I suspect the clue is in the name 'Noman'. But I daresay that DC would be interested in meeting such a splendid chap, if he existed!

Anonymous said...

He does, David, he does. He can often be seen in the Old Dairy on Stroud Green Road. People keep telling him that it's haram to drink, but he won't listen! The Finsbury Park Mosque has been contacted re this situation.

Arthurian Legend said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Newmania said...

Blimey...lunch break was it all. I `m bit worried about DSOBJ. She sounds like a frightened rabbit ...it isn`t me promise.

Anonymous said...

I seem to recall reading in The Iz Journal that there was a Mrs. Legend-Abdul-Rabb (meaning "Slave of the Lord"). Apparently, she had three husbands (of which Mr. Noman was one). The other two were in the dark.

Anonymous said...

"re. JH: I suspect the clue is in the name 'Noman'. But I daresay that DC would be interested in meeting such a splendid chap, if he existed!"

They have already met! Mr Noman is on the A-List!

Arthurian Legend said...

Better not be Mrs L.

I recall once picking up The Discarded Image in our university library (probably in my first year). At that time it was, both literally and figuratively, a closed book to me.

Either before or since that time I have read almost all of Lewis' religious and philosophical works, and a good deal of his fiction and some of his poetry, but I'm afraid that without Newmania's admirable breadth of literary learning I would not do it justice, even if I attempted it up now.

Still, it's odd isn't it how at one time some tome or other can appear so mysterious and baffling that one can't really make a decent fist of even a single page, but some while later the fog can have lifted completely. For me, I'm thinking here of Anthony Thiselton's Interpreting God and the Postmodern Self: On Meaning, Manipulation, and Promise (here) even the title of which was originally a bit of an enigma, but only two years later (admittedly after several hundred hours of study during my year in Africa), I actually found it fairly approachable...

That said, I think I'll look at TDI again soon (hopefully it will be display on Newmania's bookshelf)...and confirm my own ignorance...

Anonymous said...

JH _ and Ibn Battuti told you all this, right?

Anonymous said...

No, he's busy in Morocco at the mo.

Anonymous said...

Well if Newmania can handle a Mrs M and Mrs N, and they are both happy, then best of British to them all.

Anonymous said...

Thought you might like this:

http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2007/02/go-girl.html

Anonymous said...

I should have added that Miss Smack's real name is Miss Aabish Simak !!! She resides in Stroud Green but, when off the pills (or should that be ON the pills?)she thinks she's in Sydney.

Newmania said...

Either before or since that time I have read almost all of Lewis' religious and philosophical works, and a good deal of his fiction and some of his poetry,

Same here but for quite a lot of it I had no choice. Itys all good in various different ways . One of my heros in fact

Newmania said...

Either before or since that time I have read almost all of Lewis' religious and philosophical works, and a good deal of his fiction and some of his poetry,

Same here but for quite a lot of it I had no choice. Itys all good in various different ways . One of my heros in fact

Newmania said...

Thiselton's Interpreting God and the Postmodern Self: On Meaning, Manipulation, and Promise (here) even the title of which was originally a bit of an enigma, but only two years later (admittedly after several hundred hours of study during my year in Africa),


Oh the evenings round the camp fire must have just flown by...........................

Newmania said...

Nadine...hmmm..not convinced

Anonymous said...

Never thought my own language would be as impenetrable as Greek to me.

Was English Lit. your degree, N ?


I can tell I'm the bloody John Prescott round these parts.
(Got a good right hook on me too!)

Anonymous said...

Newmania, I have met Nadine, I was with her local Association the night she was selected after Jonathan Syeed was given the heave-ho, I tell you she was superb, she is very genuine, extremely talented, you would really like her too if you knew her.

Did you see I put a word a word in for you over at Wifey?

Newmania said...

Really Ellee , am I in trouble then. I `ll have apeek.

Kev you are nothing like John Prescott..yes I `m sorry to say that many years ago I did Lit.God knows why , I just been working ever since.

I am poor at fighting but have not had a scrap for many years now.

Newmania said...

I see Thanky E.

BTW do you have a new picture ?Do I detect evidence of "working out"..the horror.

Anonymous said...

No, the pic is the same, maybe it was your post pub observation being a little blurred.

I see you have come across my walking friend Sally, she makes excellent muffins.

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