Word of the Day
This week's theme: words about poetry.
palinode (PAL-uh-noad) noun
A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem.
[From Greek palinoidia, from palin (again) + oide (song).]
The illustrator and humorist Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) once wrote a
poem called The Purple Cow:
I never saw a purple cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.
The poem became so popular and he became so closely linked with this single
quatrain he later wrote a palinode:
Confession: and a Portrait, Too,
Upon a Background that I Rue!
Oh, yes, I wrote 'The Purple Cow,'
I'm sorry now I wrote it!
But I can tell you anyhow,
I'll kill you if you quote it."
It was the same Burgess who coined the word blurb.
-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)
"The more lighthearted palinodes were more successful, such as Geoff
Horton's recantation of his youthful view that a martini should be
shaken rather than stirred."
Jaspitos; I Take It Back; The Spectator (London, UK); Jan 24, 2004.
Sponsors' messages:
The delights of "Prinderella and the Since," "Beeping Sleauty," and 41 other
tales twisted by Col Stoopnagle can be yours from http://stoneandscott.com
Now I feel as if I should write one of these. Any ideas? ;-)
Sponsor's message included because it looked funny. ;-)
palinode (PAL-uh-noad) noun
A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem.
[From Greek palinoidia, from palin (again) + oide (song).]
The illustrator and humorist Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) once wrote a
poem called The Purple Cow:
I never saw a purple cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.
The poem became so popular and he became so closely linked with this single
quatrain he later wrote a palinode:
Confession: and a Portrait, Too,
Upon a Background that I Rue!
Oh, yes, I wrote 'The Purple Cow,'
I'm sorry now I wrote it!
But I can tell you anyhow,
I'll kill you if you quote it."
It was the same Burgess who coined the word blurb.
-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)
"The more lighthearted palinodes were more successful, such as Geoff
Horton's recantation of his youthful view that a martini should be
shaken rather than stirred."
Jaspitos; I Take It Back; The Spectator (London, UK); Jan 24, 2004.
Sponsors' messages:
The delights of "Prinderella and the Since," "Beeping Sleauty," and 41 other
tales twisted by Col Stoopnagle can be yours from http://stoneandscott.com
Now I feel as if I should write one of these. Any ideas? ;-)
Sponsor's message included because it looked funny. ;-)