| || curve, photo, fennel, secede, one per-cent.
Image from the Internet.
The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
Comments are welcomed!
Do not explicitly reveal any of the actual answer words until after closing time, but embedding them surreptitiously in comment sentences is encouraged.
16 comments:
Hi. Late night lets me solve the jumble not long after Owen puts it up. Not difficult, and a clever play on words, I thought. Looking forward to seeing how that fourth clue will fit in a poem with the other three. But I'm sure Owen will find a way, and Wilbur too.
Let me admire the curve of a shapely leg,
And do it freely without having to beg.
The female form, so photogenic,
Will cause any man to become frenetic.
Some keep thin with diets detrimental
Salads of watercress, kale and fennel.
From the human race they seem to secede,
Anorexic walking-sticks in need of feed!
I'll by-pass that insectile one percent,
Give me the woman of whom I dreamt
With meat on her bones, not poking ribs,
And a pillowy bosom, I'll call dibs!
Sandy, I hope you checked out the late night extravaganza of poetry. I've invited all if the regulars to guess from whence my new story arises.
OMK has pointed out the medieval if not Chaucerian flavor especially the diction. And tone.
#4 will be easy to use, it fits in with the riddle-solution. #2 however...
WC
RABBIT
RABBIT
The little bunny swore she was having fun herself.
Wilbur ~ Maybe I should have said Scottian--rather than Chaucerian.
The former also wrote of figures from another time than his own. Seems to have made quite a go of it.
~ OMK
OMK, my source of y'all care to read along is This URL
Anybody besides Keith grok the original. It's my fav since 9th grade. "Brian" is my favorite character, not the villain(with an A). He was quite surly last night.
. WC
I think we all guessed your "secret" last night, but nobody wanted to state the obvious.
There were elements of Robin Hood in your synopsis, Wilbur, but the giveaway was your mention of a "Jewish beauty."
Who can forget Liz Taylor's Rebecca (not of Sunnybrook Farm)?
In giving credit to your source, you downplay the true originality of your poetic rendition.
You are not plagiarizing Scott, not simply copying him.
His medium was prose. To revive (revise?) that huge romance in verse is no mean undertaking.
Kudos on another major effort!
Owen ~ your salute to the fleshier members of the "fairer sex" is delightful--if a tad old-fashioned.
The woke parties on your blog may take exception, but I would hope it can be interpreted as a pro-feminist call to save anorexics from an unhealthy fate.
I'd love to see a female response, something to put men in our place--from the womanly Eye.
Misty ~ working on a Spoonerism. Maybe this...?
Q: How many reptiles does it take to ruin the Garden of Eden?
A: One Ser-Pent!
~ OMK
Easy, delightful Jumble this morning. The fourth word stumped me a bit, so I read the cartoon--what a funny, cute solution! Helped me get the fourth word. Couldn't wait to see how Owen would work them all in, and there they all were, in an absolutely delightful verse.
So what do RABBITS have to do with the first day of a month falling on a Wednesday, Ol'Man Keith? I've heard this before, but have never understood it.
Can't believe I had to swerve
As I drove around a curve
Where a guy took a photo
Of his wife in a toto (tutu?)
By her dog near its kennel
Chomping some fennel,
Or was it some weed,
Or some kind of sea-seed?
(I'm not a poet, and I know it).
Misty ~
You are, you are!
(Har dee Har!)
A poet!
Now own it!
~ OMK
Nobody knows the origin of the "Rabbit Rabbit" superstition. It is popular in Britain and the NE United States.
Wikipedia says it is first documented in a 1922 novel.
It isn't confined to a Wednesday, Misty, but belongs to every first of the month date.
The idea is that to say (or write) "Rabbit Rabbit" or "White Rabbit" as one's first utterance on the first day will ensure good luck throughout the month.
I am a skeptic. As I often say, I don't believe in it at all.
But it never hurts to make sure.
~ OMK
Let's take a look at the characters in our tale.
First the Abbott. Being of the one percent he availed
Himself well using cunning and a fair ability
With horse and hunt plus glibness of tongue facility.
His companion was a Templar Knight just returned from the lands
Where he faught against the infidel saracen bands.
A love of his youth had gone sour
And the memory his mind did devour.
A photo of the pair would reveal a haughtiness of face
On the clergyman whereas the curve of torso marked the warrior race.
Now the Saxon yeomen were a peculiar pair
Wamba the jester with bells on cap and nary a care
And Garth the swineherd of the surly mien
Hoping for Saxon seccession and a new King come again
And finally the pigs and faithful Fang the dog
The swine rooting out acorns and fennel from the bog
Fang always in yoke to some or another man
Dreaming that his favorite would someday return again.
WC
Quiz Friday
OMK, I knew you catch onto the endeavor I've started. I think I mentioned once some of my ideas. I had this idea before Hamilton broke new ground but in my dreams I thought of something stage worthy.
Let's see where this takes us. It will require a lot of thought.
WC
Wilbur, I've never read that novel, though I know of it in general. To tell the truth, what I remember most is a film of the 40's or early 50's, Imagine Elizabeth Taylor as the tragic heroine! She was tragic, right?
I suppose I have more than just a passing interest in the new project, Wilbur. I have been curious, on & off, about my family genealogy, and our surname dates from the Third Crusade.
(Our totem is an Owl because, we guess, a knight of our name was especially "watchful" in the crusaders' camp.)
I am intrigued by your reference to Hamilton--how you see it "breaking new ground."
It is a fascinating use of contemporary patter and hip-hop in treating A.H. and our "enlightened" founders. But I think it's the diverse ethnic casting that really sets the show apart.
If we're ever going to re-unite this nation under "E pluribus unum," we'll need to get more people to accept that we are all equally--
despite the superficial marks of racial difference--
the children of that small gang of British colonials.
~ OMK
I wouldn't say it was the "diverse ethnic casting" so much as the use of "contemporary patter and hip-hop " that broke new ground. They used long rhyming verse to tell the tale.
I bought the libretto book but never got around to reading it as it required to much mental effort.
Now I mentioned arcs, tangents and vectors: geometric terms employed by Literature among other disciplines. Business even.
Misty, did you use those terms?
WC
Lovely spoonerism, Ol'Man Keith.
And Wilbur it was fun to track all the words and solution in your great poem--many thanks for that gift too. But I don't think I use the terms you refer to very regularly.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the blog tomorrow.
Post a Comment