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| _humor, music, ballet, rebuke, slumber lumber.Image(s) from the Internet.
The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
Comments are welcomed! And couching them in Poetry is definitely NOT required.
Do not explicitly reveal any of the actual answer words until after closing time, but embedding them surreptitiously in comment sentences is encouraged.
24 comments:
The Muses are the avatars of Arts,
In its manifold forms and parts.
Thalia bears the mask of laughter,
The Humor Lady, it's smiles she's after!
Love song crooners all bow to Euterpe,
Of Polyhymnia are gospel choirs worthy.
Music is the realm of these two Muses,
Rebuking Rap, for which they have no uses!
Dancers for Terpsichore make way,
From squares to polka to ballet!
And while the world saws logs to lumber,
Does Urania paint dreams in our slumber?
Erato inspires lyric poetry,
Calliope saga and epic o'ersees.
Clio, history, much is fiction.
Melpomene is tragedy's victim!
A quatrain version of one I did in limericks March 20, 2015
The Nine Muses
For History we turn to Clio
To tell us how things turned for real.
While with Poetry
'Tis Calliope
Who tells Epic stories of deeds ideal!
Ballads sad and love-Songs chirpy
Are the realm of Muse Euterpe.
Lyric Poems of Erato
Rhyme and meter faring just-so,
Make the verses recite-worthy!
Hubris or vile enemy
Feeds Tragedy to Melpomene.
Pious Polyhymnia
Beseeches far Olympia
With Hymns fair as anemone!
Dancers cherish Terpsichore
Limber as graceful trickery.
Pratfalls follow Thalia
In Comedy's regalia,
Honest laughter is her victory!
It may seem some bizarre mania
To include as Muse, URANIA
What art's to see
In Astronomy?
The wonders in our cosmic crania!
I only needed 5 of them this time, so the other four got short shrift. But I did manage to bookend the masks of thespians!
Outstanding, Owen, an extraordinary effort!
I had only intended to post a brief one of my "economical" goodies. But you inspire me to add one more limerick, viz.:
We get all our words from the Jumble.
Even with kueerb we don't stumble.
Whether it's scmiu for the chorus
Or latelb to bore us,
We'll fumble this mouhr, then grumble.
Oh, and here's a pentameter couplet I meant to post:
"But Can He Dance the Rumber?"
It's no rebuke to the ballet's music score
to humor the lead danseur for saving act four!
~ OMK
I remember the Yoggism about ballerinas dancing on their toes:
"Why don't they just get taller girls?"
My goodness, what an amazing start to our day, Owen! What a wonderful production! I had not idea URANUS was a goddess whose name means "Heavenly" (I looked it up)and who was indeed the patron of Astronomy! The things you learn on this blog! Thank you for this gift.
And, as if this weren't enough to start a great day, we get Ol' Man Keith's double treat: a limerick with all four Jumble words mixed up, followed by the iambic pentameter (yes?) with masculine endings. (I looked this up in your printed sheet--hope I got it right).
Sorry for my lame production to follow, but it's all I can do.
"Melodies"
Fred's career was a bit of a fluke
but he suffers no rebuke.
He began working as a pet groomer,
a job he treated with humor.
Then he worked as a valet
a gig with somewhat poor pay.
He then luckily learned how to dance
which did much his career to advance,
and he is now happy every day
to perform in his city's ballet.
He enjoys the music with pleasure
and finds the dancers a treasure,
and after enjoying each number
he gets a night of sweet slumber.
P.S. Should have been "and after performing each number".
Hardly "lame'" Misty!
By definition, your couplets flow. They bounce and dance, but overall they flow on!
Thanks for your generous compliments.
Yes, my second piece is iambic pentameter. It is not blank verse, of course, because it rhymes. And yes, the endings are masculine.
Here's a "test question." Each of the two lines, while basically iambic, contains anapests.
This is sorta like Where's Waldo.
Can you spot the one anapest in the first line, and the two anapests in the second?
Hint: "danseur is a stand alone iambus (u /), but only because I used the French form.
Owen ~ That Yoggism is delicious!
And perfectly iambic! Reminds me of Moliere's Bourgeois Gentleman, surprised to learn he'd been speaking Prose all his life!
~ OMK
Sandy ~ I'm betting you enjoy today's solution. It may not be brilliant, but the rhyme is silly fun. Yes?
~ OMK
OMK--can't do it. My best guess would be that the anapest in the first line is "to the ballet" and the two in the second line are "-or the lead" and "-ing act four".
But I'm not sure that's right. Not my favorite sort of literary adventure. I'm going back to thinking about the meaning of the words in poems, and not the rhythm.
No, it's not the greatest adventure, but it's a way to understand a technical aspect of art.
Anyway, give yourself a pat on the back, 'cuz you scored 100%!
The first anapest is just the first three syllables of "to the BAL-," of course (since we have to let go of "-let MUS" for the next iamb), while you nailed the latter two precisely.
Ah, but before I let you escape back into the "meaning," to track the history of Fred's rebuke-free career (that multi-talented groomer/valet/quick-learning dancer!), take a look at the "mill" in the 2nd line of your 2nd stanza.
It's an oddity. The verb "to advance" can be transitive or intransitive. You chose the auxiliary word "did," which makes it transitive. It should come before the object it is affecting.
Check to see if this doesn't sound better:
"...which helped his career advance."
That is simply the intransitive form. "Career" is doing the advancing, not having it done to it.
I'm pretty sure Fred doesn't care. This is for the sake of the reader.
~ OMK
Yes, OMK, I appreciated that rhyme in the solution. Not a pun, but a very appropriate rhyme.
Also liked the reference to the Giving Tree. I find that controversy fascinating, though not quite sure which side I come down on.
I get why some are troubled by The Giving Tree, Sandy but to me it is an over-reaction to ban the book from libraries.
These busy souls fear children will remember the book when searching for a human partner in life, not considering that there are many different kinds of love, and the book is only about one.
And who knows whether the listening/reading child identifies with the boy or the tree?
It just might prepare some kids for the vicissitudes of Time.
~ OMK
Yes, I think banning books is very problematic. Kind of reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, as in, when you start something it can easily get out of control.
I've generally always enjoyed Shel Silverstein's work very much.
Thank you, thank you, OMK!
I knew when I re-read my puzzle this morning that I had produced a "mill"--because I had a note on my desk from one of our previous conversations that read:
"mill" "all her gossip she did stop" rather than "she stopped her gossip."
So I knew "which did much his career to advance" was a mill, but I didn't know how to fix it. Your solution is so easy:
"He then luckily learned how to dance
which did his career advance"
Why didn't I see that option when I read the poem several times? Still have a lot to learn, I guess.
I do think the book is subtly sexist, and always object to that, no matter in what form.
One of my most vivid memories is from a job I took after my divorce at age 30, and overhearing my boss on the phone telling someone he'd have his 'girl' take care of something. Felt so put down. Neded the job, though!
I dunno, Sandy. I think I might once have agreed with the "sexism" charge, since Shel thought to assign feminine pronouns to the tree.
But lately, now understanding that some "cis-males" might identify with the female tree and some young "girls" might see themselves in the Boy, I am not sure a sexism label should stick.
BTW, Shel Silverstein lived and worked in the same apartment house as my ex-wife and our younger son in NYC.
He gave Matt several of his books. They didn't seem to harm Matt who was his prep school's valedictorian, an NYU grad, and is now a devoted father himself (and better at it than I ever was)!
~ OMK
Please be careful, Misty.
I know that may sound a little better--but only because fewer words are involved. But with the helper, "did," you are still using an auxiliary that makes "advance" into a transitive verb.
There are lists on line of the common auxiliaries, and the infinitive version of "did"--"to do"--will be found among them.
You could leave out a helper entirely, and just say
"...and his career advanced," which is a pure intransitive form of the verb.
But then you're stuck in the past tense, and you wouldn't have the rhyme you want.
To get the result you want, you need an extra word that doesn't ruin its intransitive status. That's why I went with a different helper, a past tense helper that takes the past tense burden OFF of your verb,
"...which helped his career advance."
You could use others, just not "did" or another from the proscribed list.
You could say "...which led his career to advance"
-or-
"...that saw his career advance."
I know, I know. They say "English is an eccentric language, with more exceptions to rules than the rules themselves."
The trouble is that we absorb language in infancy through childhood without learning rules with them.
We just know what sounds right.
The rules come along at a much later phase of life--and usually ONLY because we're getting something wrong.
That NEVER feels good.
I'll shut up now.
~ OMK
Sorry, OMK, I am supersensitive to assumptions about gender, no matter the situation. I think our personal experiences influence our perspectives the most.
I try to be aware of my own assumptions, and thus diminish or even erase their effects, but find that I have to keep checking on that awareness over and over. It's a never-ending task.
Whoops, Sandy. Did I say something wrong?
I agree about "personal perspectives."
I aimed to be inoffensive,
just questioning that some may think there's only one way to read a book.
Was that not clear?
~ OMK
You didn't say anything wrong, OMK.
I just feel that most individual/personal sexism, ageism, racism, etc, is based on unconscious assumptions. Shel Silverstein probably sees females as more giving and nurturing than males in general. Unconsciously. That seems like a compliment, but it does categorize people's motives based on gender. I don't say there are no gender-based differences -- statistically -- but think it is dangerous and potentially very harmful to apply the concept to individual cases.
I have belabored this topic enough, as I'm sure you agree.
OMK, your have many helpful things to teach me about grammar, but I have a very busy week coming up, with a variety of crises, and this all has to go on a back burner for another era. Otherwise, I might have to put Jumble itself aside for a couple weeks and I don't want to do that. My apologies, but I just have to keep my priorities straight in what is turning out to be a stressful month for me. Again, forgive me--your grammar advice is so cool and helpful--but just not this month.
I quite understand, Misty.
I do not mean to add any pressure. But let me give you this, for you to file away and look over when you have a break in your busy schedule.
Reading over my last notes about transitive and intransitive forms, I see I could have made them more readable. Forget about which auxiliaries to use. I'll simplify things by reminding you that
(1) When the verb is acting upon the noun, it is in its transitive form. Whether the phrase is in the present, past, or future tense, that verb should precede the noun. ("Learning how to dance advanced his career, advances his career, is advancing his career, will advance his career, etc.")
(2) When the noun is doing the acting, its verb is intransitive, and the verb can follow the noun. ("His career advanced, his career advances, his career is advancing, his career will advance, and variations of enabling his career to advance, etc.")
Please tuck this away for later.
~ OMK
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