Monsieur Thomas Gray - I love him...

[listen_to_teeth]

The more we learn in Poetry 2110, the more I find we've ruined the English language. We've taken some of the most meaningful words and turned them into non-meaningful words, if that makes sense. For instance, melancholy used to be a word for one of the four humours. The humour in question, represented by water, was birthed by a bodily liquid called

Comments

[elephamus]

I really liked your description of the way Gray builds this poem. I think your mention of movies is really insightful - it feels like Gray is the skillful director of a slow-moving, beautiful art film.

And that makes me think: maybe part of the reason that language doesn't seem as rich or impressive now as it did the time of Gray (or the romantics, etc.) is that the image has replaced the word in our culture as the primary medium of communication. What does it matter that the word 'awesome' has lost its grandeur if you can more effectively convey grandeur (or that people today can more relate to) with spectacular cinematography or even computer generated imagery? (I think it *does* matter - I'm just being cynical here because it's fun or I'm making a point or something.)

[ofcatslives]

I had no idea you enjoyed Mogwai! Ah, Lisa, it seems we do have some musical taste in common. I will write an actual respone to your post later, I just needed to make this comment, mostly to mock you, but in that sort of 'older sister, doing it out of love' way.

Janice

[ofcatslives]

It seems to me that the changing of a word's meaning is an enivitable evolution as the population becomes more literate. Although this may seem like a contradition, I do not believe it is. For instance, I am constantly trying to expand my vocabulary and in the process I pick up words that I do not entirely know the meaning of, but use nonetheless. In this process, which we all participate in, the original meaning of words get distorted, but once the new meaning is popularized, the English language simply has a new word. I don't see this as such a bad thing, instead it is a challenge for speakers of the English language to creatively develop new words and ways to express thoughts. Essentially, language is not static, nor should it be, as we evolve, so should our words.

Janice

[tricia_stewart]

Hi Lisa, as someone who mutilates the English language and knows it, I have to agree with what you've said. Although I do also agree with what Janice has said about the evolution of language. I miss the way language used to be, in Shakespeare for instance, even swearing sounded better back then. But we live in a world where people are fighting to get through the day, through the week, through the month, etc as fast as possible. So is it any wonder that our language has sped up and morphed with us. Great post, Ciao

-Tricia

[may_posa1]

The evolution of language eh...yes words like awesome become awful bits to be rung into your inner ear and radiate in your mind..pictures come to mind as of the surfer/dude type. I do not agree that Gray uses simple language I found Wordsworth to be a lot easier for me to follow without stopping and questioning the definition or placement. But I did find the poem a pleasure to hear recited to me. I think that words never truely express ones emotions/thoughts, but we need something to express them otherwise we'd all be violent, crying fools. Sure words have evolved and the everyday language has become simplified in accordance to our use of the internet Ex: ttyl, lol, omg, etc. And you mentioned that some words have not changed, lets look at the word love for example, sure it hasnt really changed in how we use it, I still dont understand it (including its definition). It is thought of as a simple word when really its full of complications. I guess its better to say I love you then the high school "he like likes you", but I find the

[listen_to_teeth]

I understand the evolution of words, but like Tricia said, there's something about how the words used to sound and what they used to mean that sparks something within me. Things seemed more meaningful and beautiful. However, there are modern day poems that I find very beautiful, written in simple language as well. For instance, I think "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath is an extraordinary piece of work, and very meaningful, even with ordinary words. In reply to you Lesley-Anne, I did not find Thomas Gray easy to follow. On the contrary, I thought it was very difficult, which is why it would have been easy to drop it and move on to something else. However, the more I read it, and the more I looked up words in the dictionary, the more beautiful I found it.