Mags said:
>Let me speak, let me spit out my bitterness
>(she leaves quite an impression by using the word spit ...spitting on
someone
>is such an act of ...what...rage...disgust??)
>Why have you soured and curdled me?
>(taking us well beyond anger again)
I think Jonis decision to spit out bitterness rather than anger or rage
is based on her understanding of the humours which in the Middle Ages were
thought to affect a persons disposition, character, temperament or
morality. These humours date from Hippocratic physiology and denote the
four fluids (humour is Latin for moisture) which, when mixed well, make up
a balanced person. The fluids are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black
bile, making people sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric or melancholic,
respectively.
We have seen comments on the list lately on bile-marinated goodies and
bile-marinated declamations and I think all will agree that the comments
have been pretty choleric. Bearing in mind the fluid nature of the bitter
taste of bile, I think Joni selected a verb which goes well with the
expulsion of the visc(i)ous material, i.e. spitting out the bitterness. Her
later use of both souring and curdling merely continues the metaphor.
One thing that I am not sure about is if Joni/Job wants to be free of the
bitterness she has been caused, or if s/he wants to speak in a bitter way
about something or someone. Is s/he asking to unload on someone or
searching for a solution (theres that metaphor again) to the problem?
The classic case in English LitCrit of a well-balanced person was Brutus, of
whom Anthony says: His life was gentle, and the elements so mixd in him
that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, This was a man!
Youll find this in the last page of Julius Caesar, written by Willy the
Shake, of whom some of you will have heard
Got to stop here. I have to go and teach my granny to suck eggs
Mike in Barcelona
