[stylist] Old English truly frustrates me

Fri Nov 4 18:32:17 UTC 2011

I was in a speech tournament when in college and one of the poetry contestants did Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells"; I found that to be a truly memorable poem.

Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Barbara Hammel
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 2:26 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Old English truly frustrates me

I'm a rhyming lover so I like Edgar Guest and Ogden Nash and Robert Frost.
Emily Dickenson is intriguing also, though hers mostly gives me a headache.
Walt Whitman gave me a headache but you may enjoy it.  Longfellow wrote some 
long stuff.
Edgar Alan Poe wrote some strange things.  His is very dark.

There's my two cents worth--if it's even worth that.
Barbara

Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay 
any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose 
any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.--John 
F. Kennedy
-----Original Message----- 
From: Homme, James
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 1:19 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Old English truly frustrates me

Hi,
OK. Who are some poets that beginning poetry people would get something out 
of other than a headache?

Thanks.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
Behalf Of Barbara Hammel
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 2:17 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Old English truly frustrates me

Let's see, who is it?  Robert Browning?  He writes poems in the Scottish
style.  At least I think it's him.
That's even worse to understand than Shakespearean English.
Barbara

Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay
any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose
any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.--John
F. Kennedy
-----Original Message----- 
From: Homme, James
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 5:38 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Old English truly frustrates me

Hi Bridget,
I stand corrected and frustrated. I'm going to find an anthology of poetry,
so I can attempt to get some culture. <grin>

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Bridgit Pollpeter
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 2:10 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] Old English truly frustrates me

Jim,

Actually, the King James Bible and Shakespeare are not old English but
early modern English. Old English doesn't sound anything like modern
English instead sounding like a foreign language. Not only would old
English be incomprehensible to most of us, but written material in old
English would still follow medieval writing structure which was before
most grammar rules existed like spaces between words, punctuation,
capitalization and paragraphs.

Understanding early modern English can be difficult. Personally, I never
found "getting the gist" of early modern English difficult, but certain
words weren't familiar to me. It helps to read with a dictionary and any
study material you can find to supplement your reading. It may take some
longer to read material like this, and others can pick it up a bit
quicker. It's just a more archaic manner of speaking than we currently
speak, but it is modern English, not old English or even middle English,
but early modern English.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/

"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 8
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2011 16:45:34 +0000
From: "Homme, James" <james.homme at highmark.com>
To: Writer's Division Mailing List <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [stylist] Old English Truly Frustrates Me
Message-ID:
        <BF85B26B8ED7B647ACAD9C68E89DA554D031 at HMBREXMP03.highmark.com>
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Hi,
I went to http://www.poetry.org. I found some of the poems they show
from famous poets. Some of them are in English old, like the King James
Bible, but more cryptic. How do you begin to crack the code? <grin>

Jim

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