The Icelandic Language | Bill Holm

Feb 18, 2010 21:03

The Icelandic Language ( Read more... )

poem, language, love

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slashfairy February 19 2010, 12:12:13 UTC
it's amazing, innit?
i saw it in one of the poetry comms- greatpoets, or they_said, i don't remember right now- and saved it for myself, but when poetic_self posted it, i knew i had to too. it makes me so happy to read it.

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ainsoph15 February 19 2010, 13:35:07 UTC
*sigh* Ahh, this is one I'm never going to get tired of. Part of me wants to do a close reading of it, just for fun, but another knows that I wouldn't learn any more from it than I already have. Words that go straight for the soul, these ones.

*sends you love*

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slashfairy February 19 2010, 13:37:03 UTC
what is a 'close reading', and how does one do one? i'm guessing i have some equivalent skills in nursing, but. . . that's not something i've gotten as such, yet.

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ainsoph15 February 19 2010, 14:12:55 UTC
'Close reading' is just the term we used at school and Uni for doing a textual analysis - vocab, rhythym, context etc. So yeah, I suppose the nursing equivalent is diagnosis and palliative care :D The patient is the text, and what you do with them is a 'close reading' *nods*

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slashfairy February 22 2010, 11:13:22 UTC
mmhmm. any kind of care, really. but yeah, this makes sense- thank you!

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imafarmgirl February 19 2010, 15:07:26 UTC
That is really nice.

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slashfairy February 22 2010, 11:12:37 UTC
it really is.
i've had occasion this weekend to read up on Iceland, a little- that, and this poem, really are stoking the fires of an old childhood desire to visit there.

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foxrafer February 21 2010, 12:14:51 UTC
I like it all but particularly this stanza

In this language, you can't chit-chat
holding a highball in your hand, can't
even be polite. Once the sentence starts its course,
all your grief and failure come clear at last.

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slashfairy February 22 2010, 11:11:39 UTC
mmhmm.
me too.
it doesn't feel self-defeating to me, though. just honest.

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