From christopher.m.brunelle@vanderbilt.edu Wed Mar 8 08:25:48 2000 Received: from mxu3.u.washington.edu (mxu3.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.7]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id IAA45264 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 08:25:47 -0800 Received: from mailer1.mail.vanderbilt.edu (mailer1.mail.Vanderbilt.Edu [129.59.1.211]) by mxu3.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id IAA13044 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 08:25:47 -0800 Received: from brunelle.vanderbilt.edu. (A229106.N1.Vanderbilt.Edu [129.59.229.106]) by mailer1.mail.vanderbilt.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1/VU-3.0.2) with SMTP id KAA12239 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 10:25:45 -0600 (CST) From: "Brunelle, Christopher M" To: classics Subject: ugly language (was: beautiful language) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 10:25:10 -0600 (Central Standard Time) X-Mailer: Simeon for Win32 Version 4.1.5 Build (43) X-Authentication: none MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII EJT's invocation of "never" x5 straightway reminded me of the similarly formed but distinctly less grand line(s) of John Taylor (b. 1580): O Bottles, Bottles, Bottles, Bottles, Bottles, Platoes Divine workes, not great Aristottles, Did ne're make mention of a gift so Royall, Was ever bought and sold like slaves disloyall. -- from "Taylors farewell to the Tower-bottles". I find these lines hilariously horrible (though not so bad as to be included in the wonderful "Very Bad Poetry" [ed. Petras & Petras, '97]): the five-fold effrontery of "Bottles" -- surely not in anyone's list of the most beautiful words in the language -- and the clunky CLASSICAL CONTENT of the other lines. For cheek, though, it's hard to beat the Water Poet: IOHANNES DONNE. Another here thy Booke doth much commend, That none can study it to any end. Without a head, or foot, or top or taile; Yet like a savage monster dares assaile The front of sadnesse, who with anticke grinning, Applauds thee without ending or beginning. Great Lunaticke, I think thou'lt ne'r be full, Untill the world cannot containe thy skull: And like a foot-ball cram the vaulty skies, Because, earth, aire, nor sea cannot suffice The greatnesse of thy Fame, thy booke and thee, All three in one, and one compact of three. -- from "Laugh, and be Fat". That is one astonishing sports simile. More classical content, though: what's the *ugliest* line of classical poetry? I hadn't considered the question until I read Kenneth Reckford's article on Persius 3 (Arethusa 31.3 [1998]), who cites uncta cadunt laxis tunc pulmentaria labris as "one of the ugliest lines in Latin literature" (348), and I'd agree. Granted, ugliness is as slippery a topic as beauty, and some will simply quote at length from the early Roman epicists, or Lycophron; but I'll put in my vote for some of the similarly food-centered passages in Horace (Epist. 2.8.52-3): monstravi incoquere illutos Curtillus echinos, ut melius muria quod testa marina remittat. To make m's and l's sound bad is a stroke of genius. Other candidates? I'll leave it to others to point out the timely connections with Super / Fat Tuesday. Chris Brunelle .