Thank you Jeff and Denys. I didn't think of roads. Just what I needed, someone else seeing the obvious. Well, I don't know if I'm going to change it now. I put a diminished 7th on the word 'foul'. I kind of like it.
On Apr 2, 2009, at 10:29 PM, Jeff Snider wrote: > My thoroughly amateur interpretation of 23 is that "blood is nipp'd" > means it's so cold your fingers/face/exposed skin is "bitten" by the > cold when you go out. "Ways are foul" I read as "roads are a mess" > (although made a muddy mess in the fall and frozen with ruts through > the winter). So the two aren't directly connected to each other, both > just evocative of the unpleasantness of deep winter. > > -Jeff > > > > On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 9:12 AM, Ed Durbrow > <[email protected]> wrote: >> I've set the following text for lute and voice and am still revising. >> I am wondering about line 23. What do you think it means? Just simply >> cold, as in 'a nip in the air'? or does 'blood' have something to do >> with 'foul'? I don't get 'ways be foul'. I guess tu-whit is >> onomatopoeia and not 'to wit' meaning that is to know" but I am not >> an ornithologist. >> >> Winter >> >> 19 When icicles hang by the wall, >> 20 And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, >> 21And Tom bears logs into the hall, >> 22 And milk comes frozen home in pail, >> 23When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, >> 24Then nightly sings the staring-owl, >> 25 Tu-who; >> 26Tu-whit, tu-who--a merry note, >> 27While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. >> >> 28 When all aloud the wind doth blow, >> 29 And coughing drowns the parson's saw, >> 30And birds sit brooding in the snow, >> 31 And Marian's nose looks red and raw, >> 32When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, >> 33Then nightly sings the staring owl, >> 34 Tu-who; >> 35Tu-whit, tu-who--a merry note, >> 36While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. >> Notes >> 18] nail: blow one's nails, so as to keep one's hands warm. >> "saw"speech >> 27] keel: cool the pot by stirring, straining, etc. >> 32] crabs: crab-apples. >> >> >> Original text: William Shakespeare, Loves Labours Lost (1598); facs. >> edn. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957). PR 2750 B22 1957 Victoria >> College Library >> First publication date: 1598 >> Composition date: 1594 - 1595 >> Rhyme: ababccdee >> >> Ed Durbrow >> Saitama, Japan >> [email protected] >> http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> Ed Durbrow Saitama, Japan [email protected] http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ --
