A Germanic Language
Second most spoken in the world
Angles
Saxons
Jutes
From Angles were Engles
Whose language was Englisc
Thus from Europe
ENGLISH was born!
Traveling through inscriptions
Alphabets
Borrowed words
In Norms
In French
Named Old English
Middle English
Modern English
And now with many
Descendants
English in the Pacific
by whaling ships and colonizers
Official language of the islands
Meshed with island vocabulary
English has become a legend in our vocabulary
The world’s on edge of a disaster,
As man both deaf and dumb has gone,
Clueless at crest with empty bluster,
The world’s on edge of a disaster,
Helpless, man’s fallen flat, and faster,
Fruits of his sin averse to own,
The world’s on edge of a disaster,
As man both deaf and dumb has gone.
__________________________________
Reflections |10.07.2023| Triolet, world
Poet’s note: Triolet is a short poem of rhyme and repetition. We can call this a modern English Triolet. It is generally set in iambic foot, and ends with what is often called a masculine ending. Here, the lines rhyming with the first line end with an amphibrach (a feminine ending).
I can't believeth all the things I seeth:
the streets with such strange vehicles which wend
their way so apace liketh those gents fleeth
as metal lions. Nev'r has't i penn'd
a sonnet on such vehicles and highways.
Nev'r has't i hath felt so unbelieving.
I might not but tryeth to traveleth all byways.
Above me in the sky, huge birds art leaving.
Of metal too art those gents, which art of charm.
Oh, mine own, the females showeth their flesh,
and how the men art causes me alarm.
And lo, the air! How can the folks refresh?
Tall buildings, so few farms, and such big towns.
So crazy art the folks h're and their sounds!
Jan. 21, 2023 for Anoucheka Gangabissoon's Shakespeare in 2023 Contest
Translated into Shakespearean English
using English to Shakespearean Translator - LingoJam
(I can't be sure that it's exactly right, but I am hoping this is how they actually talked in those times. To understand my poem better, you can go to Lingojam and just reverse the process translating Shakespearean English back into Modern English!)
The Watergaw
by Hugh MacDiarmid
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
One wet forenight in the sheep-shearing season
I saw the uncanniest thing—
a watergaw with its wavering light
shining beyond the wild downpour of rain ...
and I thought of the last wild look that you gave
when you knew you were destined for the grave.
There was no light in the skylark's nest
that night—no—nor any in mine;
but now often I've thought of that foolish light
and of these irrational hearts of men ...
and I think that, perhaps, at last I ken
what your look meant then.
Hugh MacDiarmid wrote "The Watergaw" in a Scots dialect. I have translated or "modernized" the poem into modern English to make it easier to read and understand.
Keywords/Tags: Scotland, Scot, Scottish, Scots dialect, night, nightfall, rain, grave, death, death of a friend, light, lights, watergaw, heart, heartache, heartbroken, broken heart, heart song
Edmund Spenser wrote the Faerie Queen*
an allegory satire was his scene
A premier poet of Modern English renown
ever serious ,never the clown
*Book one https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012901803
The most common sound
in modern English language
we hear constantly.
Short e and a vowel sounds
Found in many English words
Went a shrewd shaver t' moaning monk
ñ a dark day's hurled hay tactic ton.
''f felon feast b' a callous cod thrown,
sate h', robed 'n gaunt grief, girdle ''f gloom 'n' throe.
"Go to, why wrapped in throbbing thoughts?
Why thy instinct with jeff joy fought?
Anon come a nocturnal nymph
t' bruise his breath - gullible gores t' dig."
Ergo rerouted moaning monk
gaunt grief, throbbing throe 'n' callous con.
"Send not this sinner's breath astray.
Address the nymph, I'll return t' pray."
Whence, quit moaning monk his voyage;
Sly shaver tamed his keen knowledge.
'20:07:31:20:41
Note:
a) of moaning monk.
b) Written apace with the Modern English lexis:
i) cod - man
ii) Jeff (circus) - a rope
iii)Ergo - then
iv) Whence (literary) - then
c) The following are used with no syllabic consequences:
i) t' - to
ii) ñ - no
iii) ''f - of
iv) b' - by
v) h' - he
vi) 'n - in
vii) 'n' - and
viii) t' - to
Sumer is icumen in
a modern English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
This is an update of an old classic for those of us who suffer with hay fever and other allergies ...
Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing achu!
Groweth sed
And bloweth hed
And buyeth med?
Cuccu!
Keywords/Tags: spring, summer, seasons, hay fever, seeds, pollen, pollution, med, meds, medicine, medical, achoo, stuffy, nose, blowing, ragweed, congestion, update, updates, updating, flower, flowers, health, daffodils
Modern English Most
Do use modern English most these days
If poems wanted to receive much praise
So of the game what must be the quirk?
Answer is Poetry Soup having a network.
Another secret will surely want to share
Two identical things are a perfect pair
Both flow together on natural course
And at same time each other reinforce.
When joined they are steady and sure
And at same Trump they can endure
Being ahead and not falling behind
Those two together blow your mind.
Sure and certain successful will be in end
Absolutely knowing what they do intend
Preside as perfect pair in White House soon
Not Trump who is a goon and a baboon.
Trump does have has Twitty Bird lips
And his hair in wax he always dips.
With color orange hair will adorn
Way it was when he had been born.
This was meant to match with all of his
child like behaviour. Can you imagine him
Eleven hours before the Benghazi committee
explaining all of his bankruptcies and lies.
The Benghazi attack was Three PM EDT
Eastern Daylight Time not Three AM.
Hillary was wide awake. It was Trump
who was taking his afternoon nap.
Think about it.
Jim Horn
rhythmic structure of a verse
study of metre prosody
patterns of syllables of types
stressed syllables at regular interval
qualitative
long short short dactyl
long long spondee in dead classics
alexandrine twelve syllables in french
five characters in chinese all rules then
people had lot of time to spare
sequence of feet is a metre too
stressed and unstressed like people
five iambic feet are iambic pentameter
paradise lost and sonnets
trochee is stressed unstressed reverse of iamb then
spondee anapest dactyl amphibrach pyrrhic
metric cousins
iamb in two anapest in three common modern english
unrhymed iambic penta is blank verse
bill and milton liked it rhymed pair of lines in
iambic is heroic couplet now for humor
Michael Smith
Contest Name To thee that I love,
adorn and trust
(Early Modern English Poetry Contest)
The ashen pallor of your lips,
As I wouldst seeth, forsooth betwixt,
From whence, the guard draggeth thee away,
Doth vow I do, to right this day,
The King my father, doth saith, if wrong,
Fairest maiden, perchance,
thou wilst be strong,
coming hither quickest,
A Knight in mail perchance, betwixt,
The tower guard will fall,
By sword and blood and gall,
mine own, sweetest love, Beautrix.
SECRET LETTER
My dearest girl, in our hearts we are secretly betrothed
And my love for thee is undying.
Tis an eternity ere I saw the love light of your sweet eyes.
My father the king with spying hath discovered our closeness,
And knoweth of your lack of riches and of thy father’s debts.
On the instant he hath locked you away, fearing for his safety without ruth.
I prithee, believe not in my complicity in this abduction and imprisonment.
Thou art all to me and must needs believe in my words of truth.
In the meanwhile I am gathering an host of men-at-arms, nay an army,
And herewith undertake to stop for no man
Before that thou art rescued and reunited with my loving self.
I may have more good news on the morrow
And will send another missive post-haste.
Be assured, my sweet, that thou hast my entire love,
And sorrow doth not part from my thoughts even for a moment:
I am thine forever
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .
Entered in Michael Smith’s Contest “To thee that I love, adore and trust”
(Early Modern English Poetry Contest)
Mine father hast scorned thee,
thus he locked thee in a tower.
Didst thou truly believe the same of me?
Hast thou no faith in true love’s power,
whilst mine adoration continues to flower?
I shalt come for thee on a midsummer’s night,
scaling thy tower without fear of fall.
Ye will find mine heart contrite,
standing before thee in a confining wall,
I shalt give thee a symbol that thy doubt will forestall.
With this letter is a ring from the queen’s jewelry chest;
keepest it hidden ‘til the evil force hast been overthrown.
In a fortnight mine own army will ensure the king hast been laid to rest
and ‘tis I who shalt assume the throne.
Whilst ye wait, prithee allowest me to atone.
‘Neath the halo of the next full moon,
I shalt travel to thee. Peer out thy window;
Thou will findeth me crooning love’s tune.
Unashamed, fearless, I shalt put on a show,
vowing to save thee from thy most wretched foe.
*For Michael Smith’s Early Modern English Poetry Contest
My love, thy suffring to me is as mine own
My strongst heartbeats are for thee alone.
My sire, the king, to mine confusd dismay
Has spirited thee and hid thee far away.
He darest command that I shoudst fain forget
That sweet spring day, the one on which we met.
Thou art the one whom I woudst most adore,
And so wilt I, my love, forever more.
Fealty to my king I wilt no longer claim,
For on my love for thee he bringth shame.
I gird my loins and with undaunted cry.
I swear to free thee love, or I shalt die.
Brave men accepting largesse will attend
Thy freedom and for treachery amend.
The king who woudst deceive a loyal son
Must die for harming thee, my beloved one.
by: Joyce Johnson
For contest: "Thee that I love, adorn and trust" Early, modern English style
What wondrous beauty lies within these eyes
Fairest creature in face and gracious form
Your vision lovelier than summer skies
In you, my true happiness now reborn
Lay with your loving hand upon my heart
Breath of love whispered soft upon my cheek
Please fear not, that we shall be torn apart
For our love is strong, not shallow or weak
Hold my love close, keep it forever near
Clasped in your sweet beauty, your shining light
Draw upon its strength, to silence your fear
To guide you through shadows in darkened night
Oh beauty, until you are mine once more
Remember my love is steadfast and pure
Sub Categories
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