From kolb@ucla.edu Wed Mar  8 19:39:59 2000
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Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 19:40:30 -0800
To: classics@u.washington.edu
From: Jack Kolb <kolb@ucla.edu>
Subject: Re: Beautiful Language
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One of the most sensual, if not beautiful, lines in English is from Keats'
"Eve of St. Agnes," in the stanza describing the goodies Porphyro lays out
before the sleeping Madeline:

And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon

The entire stanza's worth quoting:

   And still she slept an azure-lidded sleep,
   In blanched linen, smooth, and lavender'd,
   While he from forth the closet brought a heap
   Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd;
   With jellies soother than the creamy curd,
   And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamom;
   Manna and dates, in argosy transferr'd
   From Fez, and spiced dainties, every one,
>From silken Samarcand to cedar'd Lebanon.

Jack Kolb
Dept. of English, UCLA
kolb@ucla.edu

.