We had a great time in South Africa. I will tell you all about it tomorrow, but right now I am tired, and kind of tired of talking about it because I just spent 3 hours on the phone with my mom telling her all about it.
I'm feeling much better having had a mental break from all the wedding stuff. It's about to hit me in the head again full force, but at least I'm rested and I've had a chance to gird my loins. or something.
Here is something to make you happy, though: we bought my wedding ring! and here it is:
White gold, filigree all around, and 21 tiny, tiny diamonds to make it sparkle. Gold and diamonds both being cheap in SA, and the awesome buying power of the English pound on our side, we got a great deal on it. And it's perfect, and exactly what i wanted.
We still haven't picked out Pirate's ring yet. That's going to be a whole 'nother project. Silly sot has no idea what he wants, just that it has to be unusual.
Also, here is the meme that Da Nator hit me with:
1. Grab the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
2. Open it to page 123.
3. Find the first 5 sentences and write them down.
4. Then invite 5 friends to do the same.
So here are mine:
"Indeed, she also accepts lines with even less regular alliteration, such as 305, which she considers to be metrically satisfactory because of its alliterative linkage with both the previous and the following lines (304 alliterates on /b/ and the final stave of 305 (besekes) echoes this; 306 alliterates on /a/ and the second stave of 305 (Arthure) anticipates this):
Thane the burelyche beryn of Bretayne the lyttyll
Counsayles Sir Arthure and of hym besekys
To ansuere the alyenes wyth austeren wordes (304-306)
Or take, for example, the couplet found at 4151-2:
He es eldare than I and ende sall we bothen
He sall ferkke be-fore and I sall come aftyre
Hamel's note to this couplet reads: 'The alliterative pattern of these two lines is aa:ax/bb:xa; no emendation is necessary.' "
Look, I'm at my computer. Where I work. The nearest book was one I'm currently using in my research, which at the moment is a metrical study of Chaucer's "Book of the Duchess." The above exerpt is from "Studies in the Metre of Alliterative Verse" by Ad Putter (my supervisor), Judith Jefferson, and Myra Stokes, c. 2007.
Tagging: Miss Melville, Annie Rhiannon, Big Dave, Michael, and Murph.
11 comments:
That's Fat Dave, not Big Dave. Don't go giving all my secrets away.
I like the ring.
Ooh..pretty ring.
The prose mad emy head hurt tho.
Give me genetics any day over that...
See, that was exactly the kind of excerpt I hoped you'd come up with.
Yay, rings! Yay, travelogue later! Yay... loins?
Welcome back!
Please let me know when "Studies in the Metre of Alliterative Verse" comes out on DVD.
I've been following "the adventures of..." for some time, but usually just read and move on. Rude? Maybe.
But the choice of book made me laugh. More modern than the last tome I waded through, but not far off.
Nice ring, too. And bugger interfering relatives!
Oh for Gods sake
oh the ring is pretty!
curious (and ingnorant) what kind of information can you learn from a study of meter? that side of things always eluded me. i always figured it was a memory aid left over from the times before widespread reading skills and never thought much more about it.
I've done this meaningless meme now.
Nice rock (s). Thinks of comment about slave labour, realises he could link it to marriage, decides not to, buggers off.
Lovely and unique ring. I'd expect nothing less from you, darling.
Belatedly, I'm gonna get on that meme.
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