Immature Poetry Appreciation
And now it's time for a juvenile look at words and expressions that have not aged well since the 18th century. I know what you're thinking -- "He's just found unfortunate uses of the word 'gay'" -- but, in fact, it's nothing of the kind. The humor here is purely scatological.
First, from Matthew Prior's "An Ode": My softest verse, my darling lyre
Upon Euphelia's toilet lay ...
Next, from Canto III of Alexander Pope's "Rape of the Lock":Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day,
The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray;
The hungry Judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jury-men may dine;
The merchant from th' Exchange returns in peace,
And the long labours of the Toilet cease.
Finally, from "Wrestling Jacob" by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist religion:'Tis Love! 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart!
The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Pure universal Love Thou art!
To me, to all, Thy bowels move;
Thy Nature, and Thy Name, is Love!
I still remember a footnote to "A Christmas Carol" in my middle-school lit textbook explaining that "Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels" meant that Marley had no mercy or pity for others.
Incidentally -- [in Johnny Carson voice] "and I did not know this" -- the original version of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was written by Charles Wesley, although the words were a bit different, and in fact did not include the line "Hark the herald angels sing." Nor anything about letting the angelic host proclaim that Christ is born in Bethlehem. (See for yourself.)
First, from Matthew Prior's "An Ode": My softest verse, my darling lyre
Upon Euphelia's toilet lay ...
Next, from Canto III of Alexander Pope's "Rape of the Lock":Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day,
The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray;
The hungry Judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jury-men may dine;
The merchant from th' Exchange returns in peace,
And the long labours of the Toilet cease.
Finally, from "Wrestling Jacob" by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist religion:'Tis Love! 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart!
The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Pure universal Love Thou art!
To me, to all, Thy bowels move;
Thy Nature, and Thy Name, is Love!
I still remember a footnote to "A Christmas Carol" in my middle-school lit textbook explaining that "Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels" meant that Marley had no mercy or pity for others.
Incidentally -- [in Johnny Carson voice] "and I did not know this" -- the original version of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was written by Charles Wesley, although the words were a bit different, and in fact did not include the line "Hark the herald angels sing." Nor anything about letting the angelic host proclaim that Christ is born in Bethlehem. (See for yourself.)