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rafe
12-15-2006, 15:27
I remember having to memorize this in high school. Oddly enough, reciting it in "olde English" was very useful in courting my bride. A recent thread (elsewhere on WB) brought to mind the curious connection to thru-hiking. He even got the month right.


Whan that Aprille, with his shoures sote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the rote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye –
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages –
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

Lone Wolf
12-15-2006, 15:29
Huh? What kinda high school did you attend? I ain't never seen that before.

Footslogger
12-15-2006, 15:30
Man ...and I thought I had it tough in school with those nuns !!

'Slogger

Mags
12-15-2006, 15:34
)I can just recycle my old posts! :D)


Posted this little tidbit on another list. It was
about what many of us feel this time of the year:
Springer Fever. Originally the urge to go to Springer
Mtn in Georgia; think it has gone beyond that for many
of us. It is the urge to pack up a bag and go! Anyway,
some of you may find it interesting:


Spinger Fever starts transcending wanting to go to
Springer. Its the urge to grab a pack and go. To
explore, see what is over the horizon.

As the weather warms in April and the flowers bloom,
it seems an urge for many people. A guy named Jeff[1]
wrote this about traveling in April:

******************************
As soon as April pierces to the root
The drought of March, and bathes each bud and shoot
Through every vein of sap with gentle showers
From whose engendering liquor spring the flowers;
...
When little birds are busy with their song
Who sleep with open eyes the whole night long
Life stirs their hearts and tingles in them so,
Then people long on pilgrimage to go,
And palmers set out for distant strands
And foriegn shrines renowned in sundry lands.
*********************

An old sentiment. For those who've hiked a long trail
the urge to go to Springer, Campo, Glacier, and other
places of wilderness pilgrimages is strong this time
of the year.

I am house (and cat!) sitting in downtown Boulder for
the next three weeks. As I do my walk to work every
morning, I go along the tree lined streets. The birds
are indeed singing, the trees are starting to blossom
with purple flowers. The flower beds people have
planted are fragrant with the smell of Spring.

As I look past the foothills, I catch a glimpse of the
divide all covered with snow. I want to be there
walking along them...

Yep..Springer fever definitely transcends wanting to
be at Springer. It is the urge to be somewhere and
someplace. To again be walking a long trail.


[1] you know..the english hack named G. Chaucer? :)

Mags
12-15-2006, 15:35
(I can just recycle my old posts! :D)


Posted this little tidbit on another list. It was
about what many of us feel this time of the year:
Springer Fever. Originally the urge to go to Springer
Mtn in Georgia; think it has gone beyond that for many
of us. It is the urge to pack up a bag and go! Anyway,
some of you may find it interesting:


Spinger Fever starts transcending wanting to go to Springer. Its the urge to grab a pack and go. To
explore, see what is over the horizon.

As the weather warms in April and the flowers bloom,
it seems an urge for many people. A guy named Jeff[1]
wrote this about traveling in April:

******************************
As soon as April pierces to the root
The drought of March, and bathes each bud and shoot
Through every vein of sap with gentle showers
From whose engendering liquor spring the flowers;
...
When little birds are busy with their song
Who sleep with open eyes the whole night long
Life stirs their hearts and tingles in them so,
Then people long on pilgrimage to go,
And palmers set out for distant strands
And foriegn shrines renowned in sundry lands.
*********************

An old sentiment. For those who've hiked a long trail
the urge to go to Springer, Campo, Glacier, and other
places of wilderness pilgrimages is strong this time
of the year.

I am house (and cat!) sitting in downtown Boulder for
the next three weeks. As I do my walk to work every
morning, I go along the tree lined streets. The birds
are indeed singing, the trees are starting to blossom
with purple flowers. The flower beds people have
planted are fragrant with the smell of Spring.

As I look past the foothills, I catch a glimpse of the
divide all covered with snow. I want to be there
walking along them...

Yep..Springer fever definitely transcends wanting to
be at Springer. It is the urge to be somewhere and
someplace. To again be walking a long trail.


[1] you know..the english hack named G. Chaucer? :)

Mags
12-15-2006, 15:36
Sorry for the double post. My WiFi just had a hiccup.. :o

Footslogger
12-15-2006, 15:38
My WiFi just had a hiccup.. :o

======================================

Cover its mouth/nose for 30 seconds and the hiccups will pass !!

'Slogger

rafe
12-15-2006, 15:42
Huh? What kinda high school did you attend?

Just an ordinary public high school in upstate New York. But I guess it was an "honors" English class. A hat tip to Mr. Byrne, our teacher.


I ain't never seen that before.Mags explains... if you google on the first line, you can learn all you wanna know and then some.

Almost There
12-15-2006, 16:05
Is the quote Chaucer???

Mags
12-15-2006, 16:45
Is the quote Chaucer???

They are the opening lines to "The Canterbury Tales".

Terrapin put the original "Olde English", used a modern rendition of the lines.

I learned it in my senior year high school English class (Coventry High School). Right after the chapter on Beowulf!

Footslogger: Man..that gave me a laugh!

rafe
12-15-2006, 18:26
They are the opening lines to "The Canterbury Tales".
Terrapin put the original "Olde English", used a modern rendition of the lines.



We had to memorize and be able to recite the first 12 lines in "olde English." I think the point of the lesson was to demonstrate the way languages (in this case, our language) change over the centuries.

Still, I can no longer guess what "priketh hem Natur in hir corages" means, and would have to look it up. ;)

Ender
12-15-2006, 18:34
I remember having to memorize this in high school. Oddly enough, reciting it in "olde English"

Just FYI, that's not olde English. Old English is much more like German or maybe Celtic, with very little to make it recognizable as being related to English. What you are quoting is actually most likely Middle English.

Here's an example of Old English (taken from Beowulf)...

Hwæt! wē Gār-Dena in geār-dagum,
þeod-cyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

Since you quoted Canterbury Tales, it would be Middle English. Great quote though!

Ender
12-15-2006, 18:37
Still, I can no longer guess what "priketh hem Natur in hir corages" means, and would have to look it up. ;)


I think it means something along the lines of "So nature pricks their hearts", as in awakens their hearts. Or something like that.

Mags
12-15-2006, 18:47
Here's an example of Old English (taken from Beowulf)...



My god..it is all coming back. Dr. Girard's 12th grade english class.... That's right...old English vs. middle English. IIRC, Chaucer was to English what Dante' was to Italian. Standarizing the language a bit. Having said all that, I'll stick to the modern English translation of Chaucer...and Beowulf! (Always looked like Klingon to me. :D)

Speaking ofwhich...
http://imdb.com/title/tt0442933/

How cool is that? Then again, I love Neil Gaiman's works.

[/quote] Great quote though![/quote]

Is indeed.

OK..my brain is hurting now. :)

rafe
12-15-2006, 19:34
Speaking ofwhich...
http://imdb.com/title/tt0442933/

How cool is that? Then again, I love Neil Gaiman's works.



Didja look at the cast? John Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins... yowza.

Programbo
12-15-2006, 22:56
Hmmm..I was involved in Wicca long ago and this sounds similar to something we would have recited to work up a little moon magick :-?

Queen, and huntress, chaste and fair,
Now the sun is laid to sleep,
Seated in thy silver chair,
State in wonted manner keep;
Hesperus entreats thy light,
Goddess excellently bright.

Earth, let not thy envious shade
Dare itself to interpose;
Cynthia's shining orb was made
Heaven to clear when day did close.
Bless us then with wished sight,
Goddess excellently bright.

Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy crystal shining quiver;
Give unto the flying hart
Space to breathe, how short soever.
Thou that mak'st a day of night,
Goddess excellently bright.

The Old Fhart
12-15-2006, 23:32
This is a little off track(surprise!) but this is one of the poems I've left in registers over the years.

from THE TRAVELLER; OR, A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY
by Oliver Goldsmith

Bless'd be that spot, where cheerful guests retire
To pause from toil, and trim their ev'ning fire;
Bless'd that abode, where want and pain repair,
And every stranger finds a ready chair;
Bless'd be those feasts with simple plenty crown'd,
Where all the ruddy family around
Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale,
Or press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.

But me, not destin'd such delights to share,
My prime of life in wand'ring spent and care,
Impell'd, with steps unceasing, to pursue
Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view
That, like the circle bounding earth and skies,
Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies;
My fortune leads to traverse realms alone,
And find no spot of all the world my own.

Even now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,
I sit me down a pensive hour to spend;
And, plac'd on high above the storm's career,
Look downward where a hundred realms appear;
Lakes, forests, cities, plain, extending wide,
The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride.

Mammoth
12-16-2006, 01:37
Just FYI, that's not olde English. Old English is much more like German or maybe Celtic, with very little to make it recognizable as being related to English. What you are quoting is actually most likely Middle English.

Here's an example of Old English (taken from Beowulf)...

Hwæt! wē Gār-Dena in geār-dagum,
þeod-cyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

Since you quoted Canterbury Tales, it would be Middle English. Great quote though!


Yep. It's Middle English, London dialect.
Even though the prologue is about pilgrimmages, it makes me think of farming anyway. Plus, that part about the alert small animals sleeping with their eyes open is really creepy. Not really how I'd like to think while tenting.:p

K0OPG
12-17-2006, 13:24
wow, what a blast from the past. Public high school, New Hope High School, Columbus, Mississippi, 1977/78 (yes, I'm that freak'n old.) No worries, no bills, just a little job for spending money, football, basketball, track, cheerleaders, band trips (yes, I did both sports and band), girls, and parties, cheap gas, cheap beer, 3 channels on the tv, no computers, cell phones, or any electronic crap to fry your brain, 8 tracks, and my 1965 Corvair. The good ole days!!!:banana


:mad: Great, thanks, now I'm depressed and pissed off at my life. guess I'll have to take a walk in the woods tonight when I get home from work.

SGT Rock
12-17-2006, 13:36
I remember covering that in HS English. I thought it was a lame thing to be reading when the english was archaic to current use. I prefered reading about Beowolf.

rafe
12-17-2006, 13:42
I thought it was a lame thing to be reading when the english was archaic to current use.

It's good to understand how languages evolve. Not just good, but interesting and amusing. Bill Bryson (remember him?) has actually written two excellent books about this, Made in America and The Mother Tongue -- both about the English language.

RNC725
12-17-2006, 18:12
You had to completely memorize the passage until about 1972 to graduate from high school in Georgia.

Gotta lum them ol' Canterbury Tales huh?

SalParadise
12-17-2006, 19:38
Yep. It's Middle English, London dialect.
Even though the prologue is about pilgrimmages, it makes me think of farming anyway. Plus, that part about the alert small animals sleeping with their eyes open is really creepy. Not really how I'd like to think while tenting.:p

Beowulf is Old English. Middle English think of Chaucer, whose Cantubury Tales went very far to popularize the London dialect of the English language. The Melrose Place of the day.

Vi+
12-17-2006, 22:22
It's been a while but I remember memorizing, "Here I sit, broken hearted ..."

Mammoth
12-18-2006, 00:20
Beowulf is Old English. Middle English think of Chaucer, whose Cantubury Tales went very far to popularize the London dialect of the English language. The Melrose Place of the day.

Yep, I was just saying that the Chaucer quote was M.E. London dialect, unlike something like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which is M.E. of a North-West midlands dialect. Sorry, my first response was poorly worded. :o