Survey Course: ENGLISH LITERATURE

Authors' Note:  During the author's stint as a university science major, a modicum of knowledge of the liberal arts was putatively assured by subjecting students to pass/fail survey courses. "Getting by", as in the above described English class, seemed to be the modus operandi of students, and occasionally of teaching staff.

Authors' Note: 

bard: archaic term for a Celtic poet or wandering minstrel, currently applied primarily to the ‘Bard of Avon’, i.e. William Shakespeare

bodkin: a pointed instrument or pin, with archaic use to indicate a stiletto or other dagger

A question asked in Hamlet's most famous soliloquy is … 

 "Who would fardels bear?" 

Fardel is derived from fardeau, the French word for “burden”.

Authors' Note: 

rêverie (rehv-uh-REE): French for ‘dream, daydream’

grotesque: term adopted from French for an ancient Roman decorative artform rediscovered in Rome in the 15th century. Grotesques depict fantastical scenes and figures; the related adjective highlights the bizarre and even frightening nature of the images

grot: poetic variant of ‘grotto’ 

merci (mehr-SEE): French for mercy, forgiveness

   The usual critical view is that the protagonist of the poem, transfixed by the 'faery's child', has been trapped and victimized. However, Keats' description in his poem written in 1819 (but taking place in a mythical medieval past), leaves little doubt that the 'Belle Dame' is underage. The societal view of what constitutes child molestation / statutory rape seems to have changed over time.

Authors' Note:   Edgar Allan Poe wrote his best-known poem, "The Raven", in 1845. "The lost Lenore", and “quoth the Raven, ‘nevermore’ ” are famous phrases repeated in the poem. 

   An established classic, the poem will likely remain in the pantheon of poems ad infinitum (evermore).

 

Authors' Note:  The concept for a classic literary satire began in 1884 when author Mark Twain (real name Samuel Clemens) read Le Morte d'Arthur (the Death of Arthur) by Sir Thomas Mallory, a classic romance about the knights of the Round Table. 

  In Twain’s fictional account, published 1889, action unfolds when Hank, a 19th century munitions-factory mechanic, awakens from a head injury to find himself amidst the sorcerers and knights at Camelot. As he rises to high rank in medieval society through manipulation of modern technology, he becomes known simply as "Boss".

Authors' Note: The noun-form of the adjective essential, used almost exclusively in the plural, exemplifies pluralia tantum, and indicates what is truly needed (Credentials, similarly, is an example of that grammatical curiosity).

Paradise Lost, the epic poem about the Fall of Man and the Garden of Eden, by 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). is contained in twelve books. Its review by young literature students is aided by student guides such as Cliff's Notes.

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NON-SEQUITURS #1

The COMMUNIST CHURCH

1840s: Idealists in Britain,

By principles Chartist were smitten,

Such as John Goodwyn Barmby,

Who asked, "What could the harm be

In a Communist Church?" So it's written.

Dr G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2023

Authors' Note: Liberal thinking seized Europe towards the middle of the nineteenth century. Emboldened by the partial successes of the politically-targeted Chartists, intellectuals were drawn to idealistic social movements such as communitarianism. According to Wikipedia, John Goodwyn Barmby (1820 – 1881), one of its principals, introduced the term 'communist', based on the French le communisme and founded a revue called The Communist Chronicle. Seeking a spiritual path, he later founded the Communist Church, a sect that had congregations numbering in the teens at its peak. When the church folded in 1849, Barmby became active as a Unitarian minister.

This collection is arranged pretty much alphabetically. If you want to see its second instalment, click HERE.

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ITALIAN LOANWORDS

Authors' Note: You can probably figure out how to pronounce the word 'ciao' if you  already know how to say ...

cello: the musical instrument, and 

Fauci: the well-known director of the American CDC (Centers for Disease Control), and pandemic maven.

Note, however, that in expressions like che schifo, the Italian letter 'H' blocks the vowel ('E' or 'I')  from softening the sound of the Italian 'C' into the ch'(church) sound of English. 

BTW, che schifo! means 'How disgusting!, or How repulsive!, or Yuk!

Authors' Note:    Guides for tourists in Italy are often given the interesting name cicerone (plural -oni). The label is derived from the Italian Cicerone (chee-che-ROH-neh), the surname of the legendary Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero (SIH-suh-roh in Anglo-Latin, 106–48 BCE). The term has been applied to Italian antiquarians, as well as to talkative guides and interpreters.

 

   The Roman family's name was related to the word for chickpeas (ciceri in Latin, ceci in Italian). ‘Baloney’, an anglicism derived from the globally popular Italian sausage mortadella bolognese, has come in American slang to mean exaggerated claims or nonsense.

Authors' Note:  Fiasco is derived from a mid 19th-century slang expression used in Italian theatre, far fiasco, literally to do the flask, presumably relating to a drinking-game in which the player had to buy the next bottle (fiasco) if he failed.

Authors' Note: Demand for gaudy Italian opera faded temporarily in the mid-18th century in his adopted English homeland, so George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) composed a series of non-costumed oratorios for combined choir and orchestra. The sixth in the series was initially produced in Dublin, as poor reception in London was anticipated; this was, in fact, the case, but after a number of yearly springtime performances at Covent Garden Theatre, the New Sacred Oratorio gained critical and audience approval, and acquired a bold new name and unassailable status. The tradition that audiences stand for the Hallelujah Chorus is based on the unfounded myth that King George II attended an early show and was moved to stand during that point in the performance.

  The title for the iconic chorus seems to have been set in the Handelian context as Hallelujah, but dictionaries list variants of the Hebrew-derived exclamation ("praise the Lord!"), including Allelujah and Alleluia.

 

Authors' note:

libretto: Italian for 'little book'; a summary of the text distributed to the audience of an opera, mass or oratorio.

gondola (plural - gondole): the stereotypic Venetian small boat, poled down the Venetian canals; gondole-ly is a personal, incorrectly-stressed Anglo-Italian neologism

imperfetto: Italian for 'imperfect' or 'flawed'

 The ghetto first appeared as a section of the city in which members of a particular ethnic group were cordoned off, in Venice's working-class Cannaregio quarter in 1516. The word ghetto is of uncertain origin, possibly derived from a term in the local dialect for 'foundry', related to a nearby factory. The region of northeastern Italy that surrounds Venice, stretching from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea, is known as (the) Veneto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannaregio

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