Having ‘said’ that!

Hi there!

It’s Thursday

and

I am back!

When we practice Public Speaking we are often told to put in dialogues into our speech to make it more interesting and to create a connect with our audience.

Last week, I called our Master Coach.

He said, “Hi Devyani, how are you?”

He then chuckled a little and said,” you always call me on Wednesdays. Is it because you are stressed about Thursdays?”

I said, “No I dont always call you only on Wednesdays. You have got your statistics wrong. Besides, today is Tuesday!”

“Oh dear!” he said “how did I miss that?” and gave his signature full throated laugh.

Now analyse the dialogue. Apart from noticing the jovial nature of our Master Coach, what else did you notice?😊

Did you notice how many times I have used the dialogue tag of ‘he said’ and ‘I said’?

Excessive usage of he said, she said, I said actually diminishes the value of the dialogue, makes it monotonous and boring,
thereby deviating from its main purpose – of creating interest.

So which are those words which can be used instead of ‘said’? Which are those words which would make your dialogues natural and engrossing?

Let’s discuss that. 😊

First things first:-

What is a ‘dialogue tag’?

A dialogue tag is group of words following quoted speech (e.g. ‘she said’), identifying who spoke and/or how they spoke. Other words for ‘said’ can indicate:

Volume📢

(e.g. yelled, shouted, bellowed, screamed, whispered)

Tone or pitch📈

(e.g. shrieked, groaned, squeaked)

Emotion🎭

(e.g. grumbled, snapped, sneered, begged)

The relation between these elements of voice is also important. It would be strange, for example, for a character to ‘sneer’ the words ‘I love you’. ‘Sneer’ connotes contempt which is contrary to love.

Use ‘said’ sparingly

The word ‘said’, like ‘asked’, gives no colour and personality to a character’s utterance.

In conversation between characters, alternatives for ‘said’ can tell the reader:

1. The individual emotional or mental states of the conversants
2. The degree of conflict or ease in the conversation
3. What is the nature of the relationship between characters (for example, if one character always snaps at the other this will show that the character is dominanting and perhaps unkind towards the other)

The following are few of the dialogue words that can be used instead of ‘said’. They have been categorised by the kind of emotion or scenario they convey:

Anger:😠

Shouted, bellowed, yelled, snapped, cautioned, rebuked.

Affection:😍

Consoled, comforted, reassured, admired, soothed.

Excitement:🤓

Shouted, yelled, babbled, gushed, exclaimed.

Fear:😨

Whispered, stuttered, stammered, gasped, urged, hissed, babbled, blurted.

Determination:😬

Declared, insisted, maintained, commanded.

Happiness:😀

Sighed, murmured, gushed, laughed.

Sadness:😟

Cried, mumbled, sobbed, sighed, lamented.

Conflict:🤺

Jabbed, sneered, rebuked, hissed, scolded, demanded, threatened, insinuated, spat, glowered.

Making up:💏

Apologised, relented, agreed, reassured, placated, assented.

Amusement🥳

Teased, joked, laughed, chuckled, chortled, sniggered, tittered, guffawed, giggled, roared.

Storytelling:👸🤴

Related, recounted, continued, emphasized, remembered, recalled, resumed, concluded.

A word of Caution

Too many dialogue tags can make your dialogue start to feel like a compendium of emotive speech-verbs.

Remember dialogue tags are the salt and spice in a dialogue and not the whole meal.🍱

Use emotive dialogue tags only where necessary and for emphasis.

Using tags sparingly allows your reader the pleasure of inferring and imagining. The reader gets to fill in the blank spaces, prompted more subtly by the clues you leave.

Compare these two versions of the same conversation:

“I told you already,” I said, glaring.

“Well I wasn’t listening, was I!” he said.

“Apparently not,” he replied.

Now compare this to the following:

I glared at him. “I told you already.”

“Well I wasn’t listening, was I!”

“Apparently not.”

The second dialogue seems better.
Because it’s clear the glaring first-person ‘I’ is the character speaking at first, we don’t need to add ‘I said’.

The strength of the exclamation mark in the second character’s reply makes any dialogue tag showing emotion (e.g. ‘he snapped’) unnecessary.

Because it’s on a new line, and responds to what the other said, we know it’s a reply from context. When you are speaking the dialogue, you can put the correct emotions (of indignation) in this line.

Similarly, in the first speaker’s retort, we don’t need a tag telling us his tone (that it’s curt, sarcastic, or hostile). The brevity, the fact it’s only two words, conveys his tone and we can infer the character is still mad.

I hope you would find the above list of words useful. Use them appropriately, and just see the difference! 👍🏻😊

Last week, I called our Master Coach.
“Hi Devyani, how are you?”, he greeted.
” You always call me on Wednesdays. Is it because you are stressed about Thursdays?” he teased, chuckling a bit.

“No, I dont always call you only on Wednesdays. You have got your statistics wrong. Besides, today is Tuesday!”, I smirked.

“Oh dear! How did I miss that?” , he laughed, full throated, in his signature style. 😄

Isn’t it much, much better? 😊

Knowing Poetry – Part 4B

Knowing Poetry – Part 4B

Hickory, dickory, dock. 🐁🐀
The mouse ran up the clock.🐀
The clock struck one, 🕐🕰️
The mouse ran down, 🐀
Hickory, dickory, dock.🐁🐀

😄😄😄

It’s Knowing Poetry, Part 4B today. And I have started with a whiff of nostalgia! Do you remember this famous nursery rhyme?
This is a fine example of a Limerick. We are going to cover this and more in today’s post.

So let’s begin-

SOLILOQUY

Pronunciation: suh·li·luh·kvee

A soliloquy is a monologue in which a character speaks to himself or herself, expressing inner thoughts that an audience might not otherwise know.
The soliloquy is presented for the audience to understand the character’s inner thoughts and feelings as though they were not being spoken at all.
Generally, no other characters hear a soliloquy and if they are onstage during a soliloquy the character who is giving it seems to disregard them; the other characters are involved in other actions.
Soliloquies are not, by definition, poems, although they often can be—most famously in the plays of William Shakespeare.

“To be, or not to be – that is the question
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die- to sleep-
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die- to sleep.
To sleep- perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.”

(Hamlet by William Shakespeare)

One of the most famous soliloquy examples of all time is Hamlet’s commentary on the nature of consciousness and existence. He is left alone with his thoughts many times in Shakespeare’s tragedy, and uses these moments alone to delve into his innermost thoughts.

Check out Mel Gibson giving a stellar performance of the same soliloquy – here is the You tube link.

Example of Soliloquy

TANKA

Related in a sense to the Haiku, the Tanka poem is basically a poem that has 5,7,5,7,7 syllables for it’s lines. So it’s basically a Haiku with 2 seven syllable lines added on to the end.

A common topic among tanka poems is nature, particularly the changing of the seasons:

The autumn leaf
let go of the branch
with a whispered sigh
and wafted resignedly down to the earth,
its destiny fulfilled.
🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃

Poets writing poems about poetry is maybe the peak of creative expression-

Sweating bullets,
the poet counted the syllables
and rearranged her lines
until her tanka poem
was utter perfection.

Watch and experience these beautiful collection of tankas – on this you tube video

https://youtu.be/wD2oP9Z6bps
Example of Tanka

CINQUAIN

This is simply a 5 line poem. So The Tanka above falls into this classification. It follows a rhyme scheme of ababb, abaab or abccb.
Cinquains are particularly vivid in their imagery and are meant to convey a certain mood or emotion.

There are many different variations of cinquains. Some are based on word count and some are based on syllables.

The Didactic cinquain follows the pattern 1-2-3-4-1 (so that the first line has one word, the second has two, and so forth).

Examples-

Watermelon 🍉🍉🍉

Watermelon
Juicy, sweet
Dripping, slurping, smacking
So messy to eat
Yummy

Star ☀️

Star
Hot, radiant
Shining, burning, exploding
It gives life to everything
Sun

Find more examples at this link-

https://youtu.be/2kQwQ3Ea7n8
Examples of Cinquian

SESTINA

It’s a poem with six stanzas of six lines each with a triplet at the end. Each stanza has the same 6 words at the end of each line of the poem. The words that end the lines for the first stanza are rotated over and over again at the end of the lines of the next stanza.
The concluding seventh stanza has three lines called “envoi,” which is also known as “tornada”.

Here is an excerpt from the poem
A Miracle For Breakfast by Elizabeth Bishop

“At six o’clock we were waiting for coffee,
waiting for coffee and the charitable crumb
that was going to be served from a certain balcony
–like kings of old, or like a miracle.
It was still dark. One foot of the sun
steadied itself on a long ripple in the river….”

…..

“We licked up the crumb and swallowed the coffee.
A window across the river caught the sun
as if the miracle were working, on the wrong balcony.”

The above example presents complex structure of sestina. The poet has repeatedly used the words “coffee,” “crumb,” “balcony,” “miracle,” “sun,” and “river,” which show even from a surface reading that these are its keywords. Towards her concluding envoi, Bishop uses all her repeated words to illustrate the the breakfast miracle.

LIMERICK

A limerick is a five-line poem that consists of a single stanza, an AABBA rhyme scheme, and whose subject is a short, pithy tale or description.

A limerick is usually humorous and frequently rude, in which the first, second and fifth line rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are shorter and share a different rhyme.

Edward Lear, a famous British poet, and writer of literary nonsense, is widely considered as the Father of the Limerick. He didn’t write the first Limerick, rather popularised this form which was present since the 1700s.

Here is a famous one from Edward Lear

🧙🏻‍♂️🦉🦉🐔🐦🐦🐦🐦🦜
There was an Old Man with a beard
Who said, “It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!

Another one by Edward Lear
👨‍🦰💸🧺👫💸
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

A Limerick by George Bernard Shaw-
👨‍🦰🆘⚰️✨👸
Langford Reed saved the limerick verse,
From being taken away in a hearse.
He made it so clean
Now it’s fit for a queen,
Re-established for better or worse.

And here is The Limerick Song for you!

https://youtu.be/k-rN3DGMCsE
Limerick Song

With this we come to the end of the Knowing Poetry series.

The series does end here but knowledge does not.

I have always felt and agreed upon one fact that-
What we know is just a drop, 💧
What we do not know is an ocean! 🌊

So let us keep up the pursuit of Knowledge!😊👍🏻✨👨‍🎓👩🏻‍🎓📚📖

See you next week!
Till then, Ciao!

🙋🏻‍♀️😊💕

Knowing Poetry -Part 4A

Knowing Poetry – Part 4A

Hello!
It’s been a hectic week, but a happy week so far. Very happy infact! Both my kids had their Board exam results and they both did quite well!
So it’s been a busy time with congratulatory phone calls and wishes and cooking, baking, making laddoos!😊

Hence this Part 4 A.

So without further ado let’s start with today’s session on Knowing Poetry-

ODE

Much like an elegy, an ode is a tribute to its subject, although the subject need not be dead—or even sentient, as in John Keats’ *Ode on a Grecian Urn*. It’s a classical poem of a kind originally meant to be sung. It originates from the Greek word, ‘aeidein’ meaning ‘chant or sing’.

Odes are of three types-

Pindar Ode

This ode was named after an ancient Greek poet, Pindar, who began writing choral poems that were meant to be sung at public events.

Horatian Ode

The name of this ode was taken from the Latin poet, Horace. Unlike heroic odes of Pindar, Horatian ode is informal, meditative and intimate.

Irregular Ode

This type of ode is without any formal rhyme scheme, and structure . Hence, the poet has great freedom and flexibility to try any types of concepts and moods. William Wordsworth and John Keats were such poets who extensively wrote irregular odes.

Let’s take a look at an extract from the most celebrated ode in English literature.

Ode on a Grecian Urn
By John Keats
(Apparently, Keats was really into urns.)

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Here is the ode being recited on YouTube

Ode on a Grecian Urn

LYRIC POETRY

Lyric poetry refers to the broad category of poetry that concerns feelings and emotion. (the other two being narrative and dramatic)

The poet also presents a character in the first person to express his emotions.
The writer uses words that express his or her state of mind, perceptions, and feelings, rather than tell a story.

It is a combination of lyric and poetry where a piece of poetry is written as a lyric.
Lyric has been derived from lyre, a musical stringed instrument used during the Grecian period to accompany the poetry sung during different festivities.

A lyric poem is often short and non-narrative but keeps some elements of melody.

Examples of lyric poetry abound.

Go, lovely Rose
By Edmund Waller

Tell her that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.

Tell her that’s young,
And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung
In deserts where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.

Small is the worth
Of beauty from the light retired:
Bid her come forth,
Suffer herself to be desired,
And not blush so to be admired.

Then die-that she
The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee;
How small a part of time they share
That are so wondrous sweet and fair!

Edmund Waller speaks to the rose flower he is going to send to his beloved to convey his emotions. The rhyming pattern shows that this lyric poem could be sung on occasion with the accompaniment of some instrument. It also shows the best expression of his personal feelings for his beloved.

Here it is set to melody:

Go , lovely Rose

That’s all for today!

More in the next part!
Ciao
🙋🏻‍♀️😊✨

Terms in Western Classical Music -2

We started with understanding ‘Tempo’ last week.
Continuing with my series in understanding terms used in Western music let us understand a few more terms today.

HARMONY

The sounding of two or more notes at the same time. A composer may be said to have a ‘harmonic language’, similar in meaning to saying someone has a particular accent.

Harmony means simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches (tones, notes), or chords

Melody is a series of individual notes.

Harmony is made of supporting pitches that accompany a melody.

Harmony is often said to refer to the “vertical” ⬆️aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic line, or the “horizontal“➡️ aspect

When three or more pitches are played together in an instrument they form what is popularly known as a Chord.

VOICE RANGES AND PITCHES

A typical choral arrangement divides women and men into higher and lower voices.

Most voices can be assigned one of these few ranges, and this gives the composer certain vocal lines to work with.

The main vocal ranges are:

Soprano – A high female (or boy’s) voice
A soprano is a range of pitches in the highest register of tones, this range is higher than the alto range of pitches.

Coloratura Soprano – This is not really a different range from the soprano, but a coloratura soprano has a voice that is unusually high, light, and agile, even for a soprano.

Mezzo-soprano – In between soprano and alto

Alto – A low female (or boy’s) voice
The alto range of pitches is below Soprano but higher than the Tenor range.

Contralto – Contralto and alto originally referred to the same voice. But some people today use “contralto” to refer to a female voice that is even lower than a typical alto

Countertenor – A male voice that is unusually high, light, and agile, even for a tenor.

Tenor – A high (adult) male voice
A male singing voice between bariton and countertenor. The highest of the ordinary adult male range

Baritone – A male voice that falls in between tenor and bass.

Bass– pronounced as ‘base’ A low (adult) male voice
The lowest of men’s voices; also, as applied to instruments, the lowest and usually largest of any family.

You can check all these voice ranges on youtube!👍🏻😊

RHAPSODY

A rhapsody is a piece of music which has an irregular form and is full of feeling.

A rhapsody is a one-movement piece of music that explores multiple free-flowing sections that don’t necessarily relate to one another.

Definition of rhapsody

# a portion of an epic poem adapted for recitation
# a highly emotional utterance
# a highly emotional literary work
# effusively rapturous or extravagant discourse
# Ecstasy
# musical composition of irregular form having an improvisatory character.

Listen to Queen- The Bohemian Rhapsody😊

The expansive, expressive mood here is very fitting of a rhapsody. The material of the ballad then moves into a extended guitar solo with the feeling of a free-flowing improvisation- this is a very typical Rhapsody

SYMPHONY

A symphony is a work for orchestra in several sections, called movements. It was originally relegated to a humble position as the introductory music for an opera.

Symphonies became so popular in the 18th century that they detached completely from opera and turned into the most revered instrumental genre of the era.

The standard Classical form of a symphony is:

1st movement – allegro (fast) in sonata form.
2nd movement – slow.
3rd movement – minuet (a dance with three beats in a bar)
4th movement – allegro – rollicking finale

Listen to this fantastic Symphony by Franz Joseph Haydn – “Surprise” Symphony no 94

😄 It is said that during concerts, people would often fall asleep- and Haydn used to jolt them out of their slumber with his ‘little Big Surprise!’ 💥😄
Check out at around 48 secs in the video for the surprise!😄

SONATA

It’s a type of musical composition, usually for a solo instrument or a small instrumental ensemble, that typically consists of two to four movements, or sections.

This is a sonata for Piano 🎹

CADENZA

A cadenza is a moment in a musical piece where an instrumentalist or singer is given the opportunity to play a solo freely and with an artistic license to go outside of a rigid tempo or rhythm.

Listen to this Cadenza – in violin 🎻

DYNAMICS IN MUSIC

Forte – loud music
Fortissimo– very loud music
Piano– soft music

CRESCENDO

A crescendo is a gradual increase in dynamic volume during a section of music.

DIMINUENDO / DECRESCENDO

The opposite of a crescendo, a diminuendo is a decrease in dynamic volume during a section of music.

Hear this musical piece for all the terms finely demarcated.

TREMOLO

Tremolo is an effect musicians can put on a sustained notes to create a trembling sound. Usually, it takes shape in the form of repeating the same notes very quickly.
There is a change in volume – nothing to do with pitch.

VIBRATO

Vibrato is an effect where the pitch of a note is subtly moved up and down to create a vibrating effect.
The pitch changes- no volume change.

This video explains the difference between Tremolo and Vibrato.

Many of us are confused with what is a Flat note, a sharp note, a falsetto.

Here it is-

Flat Note
In music, flat refers to the relative tonal quality of a note. A flat note is one half-step below the same natural note in pitch.

Sharp Note
A sharp musical note is a semitone higher in intonation than the same natural note.

Falsetto
Falsetto is a musical term for a male voice that’s artificially high. Falsetto means “artificial voice” and comes from the Italian word falso for “false.” When men suddenly sing way up high above their speaking voices, it can sound almost fake.

This video explains falsetto very well.

With this we come to an end of my compilation of the terms used in Western music.

I say ‘my compilation’ – because its not absolutely complete- music is like an ocean- unending!

Be it Indian or Western, music has the quality to heal, unite and make peace!

I personally feel that Music is the fastest way to understand the Universal Truth, or God- whatever you want to label it.

So do learn some kind of music, if possible. If not, learn to appreciate music 🎶.

Music frees- Music binds! 🎶

Quite an anolmaly – but absolutely true !

We started with the Bohemian Rhapsody, and we end with another fantastic number –

I want to break free! by Queen 😊

This song is especially relevant in these corona times- when we all are feeling restricted, chained, bound by fear and negativity.

Let’s at least hope – for freedom !

Have a blast 💥😊

Ciao!🙋🏻‍♀️

Terms in Western Classical Music -1

Terms in Western Classical Music – 1

I have grown up in a pre internet era. So without Google or any other search engines around, we relied completely on dictionaries, books and teachers for knowledge regarding any subject.

I have learnt Hindustani Classical music for some years in my childhood. So while I was aware of Alaap, Jod, Zhala, Tihai, Taan, Murki, Komal swar, Teevra swar, Bandish, etc I was absolutely unaware of the terms defining music in the Western Classical music form.

Since my father was a music enthusiast, we had vinyl records of both Indian and Western classical music.

And many a times while listening to Bach and Beethoven, I would be at a loss to understand the terms like Allegro, Sonata, Adagio, Rhapsody and so forth.

Let us today know a few terms of the Western Music- this is not an extensive exercise, – But we would understand about the words commonly heard in this context.

Today I am covering one aspect and that is the Tempo.

TEMPO–

Tempo: The speed of a composition or section of a composition as indicated by tempo marks or by the indications of a metronome.

Tempo is the pace or speed at which a piece of music is played. Usually, the tempo will define the length and duration of a quarter note.

Very simply- tempo is the speed of the music.

The types of tempo can be- ( I am putting forth here the common ones).

Largo

meaning Slow- a very slow tempo, usually considered to be slower than adagio, and with great dignity. Used chiefly as a direction.

Adagio

This is excellent Cello music- do hear.

Adagio means slowly in Italian. In music, it signifies that a piece should be played a slower tempo or speed.

Andante

Mozart Piano Concerto # 21

Walking Speed- Meaning the music should be played at a walking pace. Not too fast or not too slow.

Moderato

At a moderate speed- faster than Andante, but slower than Allegro.

This is a melody from the famous ballet Swan Lake. A must hear – you’ll get a feeling of dejá vu!

Allegro

Mozart Symphony #40.
one of the best – do listen.

Fast, quick, and bright-Allegro means *cheerful* in Italian. In music, it means the music should be played at an upbeat and bright tempo.

Presto

Antonio Vivaldi – The Four seasons- Summer- Presto
A precious gem- must hear!

meaning very, very fast-Presto comes from Italian for “quickly.” Officially, presto is the second-quickest speed that music can be played.

Presstisimo

even faster than Presto.

Gothic storm music – the war of the violins

This is the complete list of tempos and BPM- (Beats Per Minute is the speed )-

Grave – slow and solemn (20–40 BPM)
Lento – slowly (40–45 BPM)
Largo – broadly (45–50 BPM)
Adagio – slow and stately (literally, “at ease”) (55–65 BPM)
Adagietto – rather slow (65–69 BPM)
Andante – at a walking pace (73–77 BPM)
Moderato – moderately (86–97 BPM)
Allegretto – moderately fast (98–109 BPM)
Allegro – fast, quickly and bright (109–132 BPM)
Vivace – lively and fast (132–140 BPM)
Presto – extremely fast (168–177 BPM)
Prestissimo – even faster than Presto (178 BPM and over.

Although Italian has been the prevalent language for tempo markings throughout most of classical music history, many composers have naturally written tempo indications in their own language—most notably, French, German, and English.

The composer using the most elaborate combined tempo and mood markings was probably Gustav Mahler.

For example, the second movement of his Symphony No. 9 is marked _Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers, etwas täppisch und sehr derb_ , indicating- a slowish folk-dance–like movement, with some awkwardness and much vulgarity in the execution.

Mahler would also sometimes combine German tempo markings with traditional Italian markings, as one of his symphony, marked _Allegro energico, ma non troppo. Heftig, aber markig_ meaning energetically quick, but not too much- violent, but vigorous.

One can easily see that with instructions being given in so many different languages, an orchestral musician must need to become something of a linguist! 😄

Today I could cover only Tempo. Many musical terms await our understanding.

I’ll come back with them next week.

In the meantime do enjoy the music I have posted here through the YouTube links. 🎶🎶🎶🎼🎵

Have fun and take care!🎶👍🏻❤️😊🎶

PS- Check out the metronome on you tube.
It is a device that produces an audible click or other sound at a regular interval that can be set by the user, typically in beats per minute. Musicians use the device to practice playing to a regular pulse. Metronomes typically include synchronised visual motion. 😊

Knowing Poetry – Part 3

Hello everyone!

Just today, I received a wonderful quote from a very special friend-

” New friends may be poems, but old friends are alphabets. Do not forget the alphabets- for you will need them to read the poems!” 💕

I am sure all of you are taking care of your old friends and keeping in touch with them.

That means, your alphabets are safe- so let’s understand poems! 😄

Continuing with the knowing poetry series, here is the third part of the same.

I sincerely hope that this would be useful and interesting for you.✨

# SONNET

Pronounced as : ‘Son-it‘

A sonnet is a 14 line poem , typically concerning the topic of love (but not always), containing usually 10 syllables per line.

Sonnets contain internal rhymes within their 14 lines; the exact rhyme scheme depends on the style of a sonnet.

Sonnets were invented by the Italian poet Giacomo da Lentini during the 1200s.

The word sonnet is derived from the Old Occitan phrase (Occitan- a Romance language spoken in southern France and adjoining regions) ‘sonet’ meaning “little song.”

Two most common types of sonnets are as follows-

1. Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet

The Italian sonnet is based on the original sonnet invented by da Lentini.

The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an *octave* (group of eight lines) followed by a *sestet* (group of six lines).

The typical rhyme scheme is as follows:

a b b a a b b a for the octave

and

c d d c d d, c d d e c e, or c d d c c d
for the sestet.

The octave introduces a problem or conflict, and then the sestet addresses or solves the problem.

The last two lines sum up the sonnet.

Just like we do while telling a story!😊.

Example: An Italian sonnet written by William Wordsworth:

*London 1802*

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: (a)
England hath need of thee: she is a fen (b)
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, (b)
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, (a)

Have forfeited their ancient English dower (a)
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; (b)
Oh! raise us up, return to us again; (b)
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. (a)

Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; (c)
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: (d)
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, (d)
So didst thou travel on life’s common way, (e)
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart (c)
The lowliest duties on herself did lay. (e)

2. The English (Shakespearean) Sonnet

The Shakespearean sonnet is named after Shakespeare not because he invented it but because he is the most famous writer of this type of sonnet.

Typically, the English sonnet explores romantic love.

Its rhyme scheme is as follows:

a b a b c d c d

followed by

e f e f g g.

Example: An English sonnet by William Shakespeare:

*Sonnet 18*

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (a)
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (b)
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (a)
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: (b)

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (c)
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; (d)
And every fair from fair sometime declines, (c)
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; (d)

But thy eternal summer shall not fade (e)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; (f)
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, (e)
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: (f)
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, (g)
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (g)

“Sonnet 18” is one of the most famous examples of the Shakespearean sonnet, using the exact rhyme scheme and exploring romantic love for a woman.

Here is the lyrical version of Sonnet 18 featuring Taylor Swift- for you to enjoy! 😊

# *BALLAD*

A ballad (or ballade) is a form of narrative verse that can be either poetic or musical.

It typically follows a pattern of rhymed quatrains.

Ballads are often set to music and take on a narrative form, telling a specific, emotional story complete with simple but compelling imagery.

John Keats to Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Bob Dylan, have all written ballads- the melodious form of storytelling.

Example:

An excerpt from –
Elton John’s

“Candle in the Wind”

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did.
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did…..

Elton John uses simple but effective imagery to tell the story of Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe) in this classic ballad.

Here is the You tube link for you to listen

# VILLANELLE

Pronounced: ‘Vil-a-nel’

Villanelle is a *nineteen-line poem* consisting of repeating rhymes and refrains and a highly specified internal rhyme scheme.

With capital letters for refrains and lowercase letters for rhymes, this is the form:

A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2.

Originally a variation on a pastoral, the villanelle has evolved to describe obsessions and other intense subject matters, as exemplified by Dylan Thomas, author of villanelles like Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.

Here it is, for you-

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night*.
by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas uses the villanelle form in “Do not go gentle into that good night,” urging readers to fight to survive in raging against the dying light.

Here is the YouTube link of the poet himself reciting this very poem- Do hear it to know how wonderfully he recites – pulling at the heartstrings.

# ELEGY

An elegy is a poem that reflects upon death or loss.

Traditionally, it contains themes of mourning, loss, and reflection.

However, it can also explore themes of redemption and consolation.

The purpose of this kind of poem is to express feelings rather than tell a story.

It should not be confused with *Eulogy* which means-
a speech given at a memorial or funeral service. It can be delivered by a family member, close friend or priest and it commemorates and celebrates the life of the deceased.

Example of Elegy

Because I could not stop for Death
by Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –

Here is the youtube link of a beautiful reading of this poem.

That’s all for today folks! 😊

See you next week!🙋🏻‍♀️
Ciao!

Knowing Poetry – Part 2

Knowing Poetry – Part 2

Hello everyone!✨

Poetry is the expression of the soul- lyrical, ethereal, magical!

A poet is the ultimate lover, the adventurer, who does not fear to dive deep into his emotions and bring out pearls of his feelings which he strings together in lyrical verses.

We covered blank verse, free verse and rhymed poetry last week…

Let’s, soak in a few other types of poetic expressions.

EPICS

An epic poem is a lengthy, narrative work of poetry.

These long poems typically detail extraordinary feats and adventures of characters from a distant past.

Epic poems started in prehistoric times as part of oral tradition.

Epics can be distinguished by-

1. The hero is outstanding. They might be important, and historically or legendarily significant.
2. The setting is large. It covers many nations, or the known world.
3. The action is made of deeds of great valour or requiring superhuman courage.
4. Supernatural forces—gods, angels, demons are included in the action.
5. It is written in a very special style (verse as opposed to prose).

Examples:

# Ramayana, ascribed to Valmiki (Indian mythology)
# Mahābhārata, ascribed to Veda Vyasa (Indian mythology)
# Iliad, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)
# Odyssey, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)
# Kumārasambhava by Kālidāsa (Indian epic poetry)
# Raghuvaṃśa by Kālidāsa (Indian epic poetry)
# Shishupala Vadha by Magha, Sanskrit epic based on an episode in the Mahabharata.
# Ramacharitamanasa (based on the Ramayana) by Goswami Tulsidas (1577)
# The Faerie Queene (Early Modern English) by Edmund Spenser (1596)
# Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671) by John Milton
# The Prelude by William Wordsworth
# Song of Myself by Walt Whitman (1855)
# The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1855)
# Meghnad Badh Kavya by Michael Madhusudan Dutta (1861)
# Rashmirathi (1952), Hunkar by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar
# The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You by Frank Stanford (published 1977)

And, many many more. Really, the list of epic poems is very very long! 👍🏻

Let’s take a look at Paradise Lost by John Milton.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books with minor revisions throughout.

Isn’t that huge?

The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser (1590) is one of the longest poems in the English language. Spenser invented the verse form known as the Spenserian stanza. On a literal level, the poem follows several knights as a means to examine different virtues, and though the text is primarily an allegorical (the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence), it can be read on several levels of allegory, including as praise (or, later, criticism) of Queen Elizabeth I.

NARRATIVE POETRY

Similar to an epic, a narrative poem tells a story, often making the voices of a narator and characters as well.

The entire story is usually written in metered verse.

Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be short or long, and the story it relates to may be complex.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” exemplify this form.

Example:

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, one of the best-known and best-loved poems in the English language, a grizzled old sailor stops a man on his way to a wedding and tells a terrifying story.

He speaks of how he doomed the crew of his ship by shooting dead an albatross, awakened the wrath of ocean spirits, met Death himself, and must now walk the earth for ever and share his tragic tale of sin, guilt and – ultimately – redemption.

*Phrase: Albatross round one’s neck*
*means- An annoying burden*

Example- “That old car is an albatross around my neck.”

An albatross is a huge sea bird.

The phrase alludes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” in which a sailor who shoots a friendly albatross is forced to wear its carcass around his neck as punishment.
Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

And when the mariner kills the bird- the sea spirits unleash their wrath – depriving them of food and drink – which was put as “water, water, everywhere, not a drop to drink!”

Here is the excerpt-

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
_Water, water, every where,_
_Nor any drop to drink._

The very deep did rot: Oh Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.

HAIKU

A haiku is a three-line poetic form originating in Japan.

The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and the third line again has five syllables.

It follows the pattern of 5-7-5 syllables.( total 17 syllables)

Haikus are known for their ability to paint a vivid picture in just a few words.

A practice of artistic discipline, their minimal nature forces writers to pare down to only the essentials—making each word, or even syllable, count.

Examples:

“The Old Pond”
by Matsuo Bashō

An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond—
Splash! Silence again.

Haikus are meant to comment on the season or surroundings of the authors and create some sort of contrasting imagery separated by a _kireji_ or “cutting word” (like “Splash!”).

“A Poppy Blooms”
by Katsushika Hokusai

I write, erase, rewrite
Erase again, and then
A poppy blooms.

Katsushika Hokusai, compares a written poem to a blooming poppy. He uses imagery of the spring season to describe his writing process.

A tradition among Zen monks was to write a last haiku when they were about to pass out of this life to the next.

This haiku by Gozan was written by him at the age of 71 in 1789.

The snow of yesterday
That fell like cherry blossoms
Is water once again.

It shows the circle of life- a popular belief in Zen Buddhism. It also has the metaphorical meaning of transience as well with the cherry blossoms lasting a week, and snow melting almost immediately upon touching the ground.

PASTORAL POETRY

Pastoral (from pastor, Latin for “shepherd”) refers to a literary work dealing with shepherds and rustic life. Pastoral poetry presents an idealistic rather than realistic view of rustic life.

Pastoral poetry is a very ancient genre of poetry. It deals with the loves and lives of shepherds and shepherdesses, and other such country folk.

They live far from towns, and spend their lives singing, sometimes mourning the loss of a sheep or a fellow shepherd or a love affair that has gone wrong.

Example: An excerpt from

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
By Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals….

A few more types of poetry still remain. But we will deal with them next week.

Ending today’s post with a modern take on Haiku.

A wishful Haiku– by Juansen Dizon

And I pray
like a flower, you will get
what you blossom for.

About anticipation-

Turkey is cooking
Already the house smells great
Anticipation.

A Haiku about getting out of bed in the morning–

😄😄😄😴😴😴😄😄😄

Bye and take care!

🙋🏻‍♀️😊

Knowing Poetry- Part 1

Poetry

I have always been enamoured by poetry. How do people just put the words together, weave a beautiful web, which entices the world to think, reflect and feel the emotions? – And that too in such a lyrical heart touching way?

I feel that poets are on a higher plane- spiritually, intellectually.

They can feel, sense and express emotions like no one else.

They are more sensitive to the environment and can pen down their thoughts very beautifully.

Infact, perhaps, God or Nature is the greatest poet of all!

I really like this poem-

Perhaps God is a poet
who writes with words
of flesh and bone and leaf and flower. . .

Every hour of every day,
words pour out of the Poet’s heart,
and every word is beautiful and true and worth the telling.
And when each poem is perfect,
and there is no more which ought to be said,
the Poet gently takes the words back into His heart
where they are safe forever . . . and then
begins again.

-Unkown

Poetry is a full subject in itself.

What is poetry?
What are its types?
What is rhyming and meter?
How do meter and rhyming help in how we read poetry?

In the next few articles, starting from today, I am going to deal with these aspects of poetry.

Come, let us explore Poetry! 😊✒️📝📚

What Is Poetry?

Poetry is a type of literature that conveys a thought, describes a scene or tells a story in a concentrated, lyrical arrangement of words.

Poems can be structured, with rhyming lines and meter, the rhythm and emphasis of a line based on syllabic beats. Poems can also be freeform, which follows no formal structure.

The basic building block of a poem is a verse known as a stanza.

A stanza is a grouping of lines related to the same thought or topic, similar to a paragraph in prose.

A stanza can be subdivided based on the number of lines it contains.

For example, a couplet is a stanza with two lines.

What Is a Rhyming Scheme and Meter in Poetry?

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song.

There are many different types of rhymes that poets use in their work: internal rhymes, slant rhymes, eye rhymes, identical rhymes, and more.

One of the most common ways to write a rhyming poem is to use a rhyme scheme composed of shared vowel sounds or consonants.

It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.

An example of the ABAB rhyming scheme, from “To Anthea, who may Command him Anything”, by Robert Herrick:

Bid me to weep, and I will weep A
While I have eyes to see B
And having none, yet I will keep. A

More examples on rhyming schemes later.

Poetry has been around for almost four thousand years. Like other forms of literature, poetry is written to share ideas, express emotions, and create imagery. Poets choose words for their meaning and acoustics, arranging them to create a tempo known as the meter.

Some poems incorporate rhyme schemes, with two or more lines that end in like-sounding words.

A poem can contain many elements to give it structure. Rhyme is perhaps the most common of these elements: countless poetic works, from limericks to epic poems to pop lyrics, contain rhymes.

But equally important is meter, which imposes specific length and emphasis on a given line of poetry.

Types of Poetic Forms

*BLANK VERSE*

Blank verse is poetry written with a precise meter—almost always iambic pentameter—that does not rhyme.

(iambic pentameter- a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable. It mimics the human heartbeat in its rhythm often to symbolise that the words being spoken are from the heart.

For example:

” But soft ! What light through yonder window breaks ?”

In this famous line from the play- Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, where Romeo is gazing up at Juliet, who is up on her balcony, there are five sets of stressed and unstressed syllables (iambs).

Much of Romeo and Juliet is written in blank verse.

Another one- from Hamlet

” _To be / or not / to be / that is/ the question”

*RHYMED POETRY*

In contrast to blank verse, rhymed poems rhyme by definition, although their scheme varies.

There are many Rhyming schemes- so many that we need a separate article just for them!

Example of Rhymed Poetry :-

*Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening*

BY ROBERT FROST

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

The poem consists of four (almost) identically constructed stanzas. Each line is iambic, with four stressed syllables.
(iamb:- An iamb is a metrical foot having two syllables: the first unstressed, or ‘weak,’ and the second stressed.)

Within the four lines of each stanza, the first, second, and fourth lines rhyme. The third line does not, but it sets up the rhymes for the next stanza.

For example, in the third stanza, queer,near, and year all rhyme, but lake rhymes with shake,mistake, and flake in the following stanza.

The notable exception to this pattern comes in the final stanza, where the third line rhymes with the previous two and is repeated as the fourth line.

*FREE VERSE*

Free verse poetry, as the name suggests, is poetry that lacks a consistent rhyme scheme, metrical pattern, or musical form. No fixed rules, no fixed syllables, no fixed stanzas- write as you wish!

It’s free!

Example:

Another example-

An Ode to Coffee
by Kelly Roper

Beautiful brown liquid steaming in my cup,
Becoming a muddy river as I stir in the cream.
The aroma that gives me courage,
The flavor that tastes like hope for a better day,
And the energy that renews my will to live.
Tomorrow morning we’ll do it all again my friend.

Hope you liked today’s part of revelations on poetry .

I’ll leave you with one more fine example of rhymed verse and its musical version.

The Last Rose of Summer is a poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. He wrote it in 1805.

The poem is set to a traditional tune called “Aislean an Oigfear”, or “The Young Man’s Dream”.

The poem and the tune together were published in December 1813 in volume 5 of Thomas Moore’s A Selection of Irish Melodies.

*The Last Rose of Summer*

‘Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rose-bud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes
To give sigh for sigh!

I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one.
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them;
Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o’er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from love’s shining circle
The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie wither’d,
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?

Here is the you tube link to this beautiful poem.

Do hear it to experience some yesteryear charm.🌹

I’ll come back again with more poetry information in my next post!

See you then,

Ciao! 😊🙋🏻‍♀️

That One, Exact Word!

That One, Exact Word!

You know there are days when I don’t get any ideas – about what to write, and then I ask my children. They always have an answer! 😊

Today was one of those days- total blank! I was sipping my morning tea with my son- we both get up early, especially during the lockdown- and I asked him about ideas.
What to write?
He just asked me, “Mom, do you know the word, Zoilist ?”
“No”
“Then write about that!”👍🏻

So I got busy. I searched for the word. And here I am!

Another source of inspiration is, of course, the innumerable series that I watch on Netflix and similar platforms!

I was watching, the short film on the writing of the book by Michelle Obama, “Becoming”. And a word struck me- Verklempt.

I searched for the word- And here I am 😊

I prefer writing in simple language, using simple words. But sometimes, some words make up for many words- they do the work of many words- that one word brings forth the exact meaning, without having to give any explanation in very many words!

Today’s article is on such words- which pack into them the work of many words. Just that word and you know understand perfectly what is being wanting to be communicated.

Not just any difficult word, used generally to impress- but that one exact word which is perfect!

A word that speaks volumes.

Let’s check on such words-

ZOILIST
Noun

# A nasty fault finding person who makes bitter, carping and belittling criticisms.

The carping zoilists have their roots in a fourth-century BC Greek grammarian and literary critic named Zoilus of Amphipolis .

Born in what is now Macedonia c. 400 BC, Zoilus was one of the most scathing critics of the Greek poet Homer.
Despite Homer,  being the author of both the Iliad and Odyssey, as well as one of the most well respected writers of Ancient Greece, writing two cornerstones of Western literature was not enough, it seems, to impress Zoilus.

It was for the criticisms of Homer’s writing that Zoilus was best known as Homeromastix, or the “Scourge of Homer”, among his contemporaries.

Usage in a sentence:

No wonder she’s single. She’s such a zoilist that no one wants to be around her.

VERKLEMPT
Adjective
(informal)

pronounced “fur-klempt”

# Overcome with emotion

Verklempt is a loan word from the Yiddish language. It means to be overwhelmed by emotion, perhaps so much that one cannot speak.

It was borrowed from the Yiddish “farklempt,” with the meaning “depressed, grieving.” Interestingly, this was actually the past participle of “farklemen,” meaning “to grip, to press.” Merriam-Webster actually traces “verklempt” all the way back to coming from the Old English word “clam” or “clom.” This meant “bond”.

The same way a clamp may inhibit the movement of an object, powerful emotions can inhibit people’s abilities to express themselves.

The word itself even kind of resembles the sound of someone trying to speak when they are getting choked up and starting to cry.

Deep emotions are notoriously one of the most difficult things to express, but at least we can say that we are verklempt.

Usage in a sentence:

The movie’s farewell scene left me feeling verklempt.

ADAMANTINE
Adjective

# Made of or having the quality of adamant

# Rigidly form: Unyeilding

# Resembling the diamond in hardness or lustre

The Greek and Latin word for the hardest imaginable substance, whether applied to a legendary stone or an actual substance, such as diamond, was “adamas.”

The English noun “adamant” (meaning “an unbreakable or extremely hard substance”), as well as the adjective “adamant” (meaning “inflexible” or “unyielding”), came from “adamas.”

“Adamas” is actually the source of “diamond” as well. “Diamas,” the Latin term for diamond, was an alteration of “adamas.”

Usage in a sentence:

The task requires agility, and an adamantine core.

The adamantine opposition of his parents to his marriage to a girl from a poor family, did not deter him.

VERITY
Noun

# The quality or state of being true or real.

# Something (such as a statement) that is true.

# especially : a fundamental and inevitably true value.
such eternal verities as honor, love, and patriotism.

# The quality or state of being truthful or honest.

Verity can be used to mean “a true idea, belief, or statement.”

Abstract concepts like love and goodness are often referred to as verities, conveying the idea that they are universal truths.

Verity is related to the word verify, meaning “to determine whether something is true.”

The Eternal Verities – those imaginative and creative thoughts, feelings and ‘understandings’ – which present us with what we would call moral and humane values: insights enabling us to know and ‘feel’ the ‘positivity’ of those attitudes and actions which ring true and good and the ‘negativity’ of those which ring false and harmful.

Here are some examples: Truth; Right and Wrong; Good and Evil; Hope; Love; Compassion; Sympathy; Spirit; Soul; Conscience.

Usage in a sentence:

In the film, he plays a spy whose mission is to confirm the verity of a secret military document.

As an art expert, my uncle is often called upon to assess the verity of a painting before it goes up for auction.

COLLIMATE
Verb

# Make or place parallel to something

# adjust the line of sight of  an optical instrument.

Collimate comes from Latin collimare, a misreading of the Latin word collineare, meaning “to direct in a straight line.”

The erroneous collimare appeared in some editions of the works of ancient Roman statesman Cicero and scholar Aulus Gellius.

The error was propagated by later writers-most notably by astronomers, such as Johannes Kepler, who wrote in Latin. And so it was the spelling collimate, rather than collineate, that passed into English in the 19th century.

Usage in a sentence

A source, like the sun, which is very far away, provides collimated light.

Perfectly collimated light is sometimes said to be focused at infinity.

So, there you are…

Hope I could give you all some new words.

Truth, novelty and clarity give us the requisite, refreshing respite, in trying times.

As per the German philosopher Nietzsche,

Everywhere the wasteland grows;
Woe to him whose wasteland is within.

Ciao!🙋🏻‍♀️😊💕

Do you have Panache?

Hello everyone!😊

I have been thinking about writing this since yesterday. But you know, something or the other kept coming up, and I could only start on this article today afternoon. Wednesday woes after all!

Makes me wonder, why do we say
‘Wednesday Woes’?

Wednesday has been considered the woeful day for long.

Infact all the days of the week have a history.
All the days have been named after planets and stars and Gods.

Sunday is named on the Sun. Monday on the moon. Saturday is named on planet Saturn.

The principal god of the Norse, Viking, Germanic mythology was the one-eyed Woden, god of wisdom and divination, whose crows told him everything that happens in the world and who with his rune stones could always see the past and the future. His day, Woden’s day, is now called Wednesday.

The day before Woden’s day, Tuesday, belonged to Tiw or Tiu, the Anglo Saxon , brave God of war, who placed his arm in the mouth of a giant wolf so that he could be chained by the dwarves and thus restrained from destroying the world.

The day after Woden’s day belonged to Thor, the great hero and Lord of Thunder. Thor was Woden’s son by Friia, the love-goddess who gave her name to Friday.

Tiw was associated with the planet Mars, Woden with Mercury, Thor with Jupiter and Friia with Venus.

India had no contact with the Germanic or Viking tribes. Yet, in the Hindu calendar of India Tuesday is called Mangal-vaar or the ‘Day of Mars’, Wednesday is called Budha-vaar or the ‘Day of Mercury’, Thursday is called Brihaspati-vaar or the ‘Day of Jupiter’ and Friday is called Shukra-vaar or the ‘Day of Venus’. The practice of naming days after planets has been traced back to the Ramayana, the great epic.

Coming back to my original question, I guess ‘Wednesday woes’ arose because the day is right in the middle of the week-  and you need a break from work, weekend is still away – no wonder you feel woeful.😐 (woeful- sad, sorrowful).

By the way Wednesday is pronounced as
‘wenz-day’.😊

Just as the days of the week are identified by various characteristics and origins- people
too have different characteristics and styles.🕺💃
Let’s discuss a few words associated with people and their individual styles.

1. PANACHE
Noun
Pronounced as- “puh-nash”

# a very stylish, original and very confident way of doing things that makes people admire you.

another meaning is

# a tuft or plume of feathers, especially as a headdress or on a helmet.

Panache derives via Middle French from Late Latin pinnaculum, meaning “small wing” or “gable,” (the triangular upper part of a wall at the end of a ridged roof) – that also gave English the word pinnacle. In both French and English, panache originally referred to a showy, feathery plume on a hat or helmet; its “dashing” figurative sense developed from the verve and swagger of one bold enough to wear such an adornment in public.

Few can match the panache of French poet and soldier Cyrano de Bergerac. In his dying moments, he declared that the one thing left to him was his panache.

When the dying Cyrano turned his huge nose heavenward and spoke of his panache, his nose became the literal and figurative pinnacle of a multifaceted pun.

Usage in a sentence:
She played the role of hostess with great panache.

2. CACHET
Noun
Pronounced as – “cash-AY”

# a quality that marks someone or something as special and worth respect and admiration.# Prestige

Two words come from the same root (the French cacher, meaning “to press, hide”)- cache and cachet, but they have different meanings.
Cache primarily refers to a thing that is hidden or stored somewhere, or to the place where it is hidden.
It has recently taken on another common meaning, “short-term computer memory where information is stored for easy retrieval.”
Cachet usually means “prestige” or “a characteristic feature or quality conferring prestige.”

However, cachet does have additional meanings which share little of their meaning with prestige, including a medicinal preparation for swallowing, and a seal used especially as a mark of official approval.

Usage in a sentence-
A Mercedes carries a certain cachet.

3. LISSOME
Adjective

Pronounced as- “lis-uhm”

# attractively thin and able to move quickly and smoothly.

# bending or moving gracefully or with ease and lightness; lithe, supple, limber, agile etc.

Lissome describes people or things that are slender, flexible, light, and graceful.

Lissome (sometimes also spelt as lissom) is a gently altered form of its synonym, “lithesome.” While “lissome” tends to be the more popular choice these days, the two words have similar pasts. They both trace back to the much older “lithe” (supple or graceful), which first appeared in English during the 14th century and comes from an Old English word meaning “gentle.”

Lissome ( lissomely) can also be an adverb meaning “in a supple or nimble manner,” but this use is rare.

Usage in a sentence-

If you watch long, thin blades of grass swishing in the breeze, they look like lissome dancers with swaying arms and torsos.

4. HURRAH’S NEST
Noun
can also be spelt as ‘Hoorah’s nest’ or ‘Hooraw’s nest’.

# an untidy heap; mess

#  specifically: a tangle of debris blocking a trail or stream.

# something in a state of great disorder or raucous confusion, whether it’s a bedroom in chaos or a crowd rioting in the street.

The Dictionary of American Regional English reports that this term comes from the use of hurrah to refer to an imaginary bird thought of as noisy and untidy.

Usage in a sentence-

Due to this lockdown of recent times, I am sure, many of us have kept our house spic and span; whereas the houses of a few may be resembling a Hoorah’s nest!

While it is possible to step over and through the hurrah’s nest that bestrews the apartment during the day, a nocturnal visit to the loo can be a perilous undertaking!

5. SHAMBOLIC
Adjective
Informal
Pronounced as- “sham-bawl-ik”

# obviously disorganised or confused

# chaotic, disorganised or mismanaged

Origins of this word may be linked to ‘shambles’ – which has a bloody history involving slaughterhouses, but now refers simply to a great confusion or mess.

Usage in a sentence-

John lived in a stylishly shambolic artist’s studio.

6. STREEL
Noun

Pronounced as- “Stri-il”

Noun

# an untidy, slovenly ( untidy, dirty) person

# a disreputable, untidy person

Verb

# wander aimlessly

Both the noun and the verb date to the first half of the 19th century. The verb is older, and comes from Irish straoill-, sraoill-, meaning to tear apart, trail, trudge.

Usage in a sentence-

Her daughter will not appear in the church looking like a streel.

Youngsters were streeling through the house.

Hope you all liked the words.

But before I end this post, let’s have some fun. 😉

There was a nursery rhyme in my childhood, which I guess would be considered inappropriate for many reasons today.

I am writing it here, but please understand I have no intentions of being a racist, sexist, colorist ( if there is such a word) classist etc.etc.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

It’s just for fun!

Monday’s Child is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as nursery rhymes for children. It was first published in 1838. It is supposed to tell a child’s character or future from his or her day of birth and to help young children remember the seven days of the week.

Here it is-

Monday’s child is fair of face. 🌙
Tuesday’s child is full of grace. 🙏🏻
Wednesday’s child is full of woe. 😕
Thursday’s child has far to go. ✈️
Friday’s child is loving and giving. 👼
Saturday’s child works hard for a living. 👨‍🔧
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day,
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. ☀️🤴👸

(Sabbath Day- Sunday.
blithe- happy, cheerful
gay- light-hearted and carefree

-not related to any sexual orientation)

Which day were you born on?

Find out and look up your fortune! 🧐

And let me know too! 😊👍🏻

Till then, Take care!

Ciao! 🙋🏻‍♀️

(PS- I was born on a Sunday! – but you must have guessed it already! 😊😊😊)