Category:
Poetry
Poetry
Dyr bul shchyl
The Russian artist Alexei Kruchenykh invented the Zaum language in 1913. He described it as "a language which does not have any definite meaning." From what I can gather, it was gibberish sounds strung together.Dyr bul shchyl, also written by Kruchenykh, was the first (but not last) poem written in Zaum.
Dyr bul shchyl
ubeshshchur
skum
vy so bu
r l ez
ubeshshchur
skum
vy so bu
r l ez
You can hear Kruchenykh reading the poem aloud in the first clip. There's a more modern interpretation of it below.
Knowing Russian, or any other language, won't help you understand the poem. But according to Russian language expert Lucas Stratton, "critics have interpreted Dyr bul shchyl as an arrangement of sounds associated with a coming storm."
Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 29, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Languages, Poetry, 1910s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
The Poet Laureate of Dentistry
Note: after preparing this post, I realized that Paul had posted about the same thing two years ago. So consider this a repost.Soylman Brown (1790-1876) was a Connecticut dentist who achieved prominence in his profession for a number of reasons. According to Wikipedia, he founded the first dental school, the first national dental society, and the first US dental journal. Plus, he became known as the Poet Laureate of Dentistry on account of his fifty-four page poem titled Dentologia - A Poem on Diseases of the Teeth, and Their Proper Remedies. It was published in 1840.
If you've got some time to kill, you can read the entire poem at the Internet Archive. Otherwise, I've sampled a brief part of it below, which should be enough to give you its general tone.
The first dentition asks our earliest care,
For oft, obstructed nature, laboring there,
Demands assistance of experienced art,
And seeks from science her appointed part.
Perhaps ere yet the infant tongue can tell
The seat of anguish that it knows too well,
Some struggling tooth, just bursting into day,
Obtuse and vigorous, urges on its way,
While inflammation, pain, and bitter cries,
And flooding tears, in sad succession rise.
The lancet, then, alone can give relief,
And mitigate the helpless sufferer's grief;
But no unpractised hand should guide the steel
Whose polished point must carry wo or weal:—
With nicest skill the dentist's hand can touch,
And neither wound too little nor too much.
For oft, obstructed nature, laboring there,
Demands assistance of experienced art,
And seeks from science her appointed part.
Perhaps ere yet the infant tongue can tell
The seat of anguish that it knows too well,
Some struggling tooth, just bursting into day,
Obtuse and vigorous, urges on its way,
While inflammation, pain, and bitter cries,
And flooding tears, in sad succession rise.
The lancet, then, alone can give relief,
And mitigate the helpless sufferer's grief;
But no unpractised hand should guide the steel
Whose polished point must carry wo or weal:—
With nicest skill the dentist's hand can touch,
And neither wound too little nor too much.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 22, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Poetry, Nineteenth Century, Teeth
Henry Gibson Anti-Littering Ads
Anyone of a certain age recalls Henry Gibson and his "naive" poems on LAUGH-IN. Apparently, some ad agency thought he'd be perfect for their anti-littering campaign.
Source.
And they were even collected in a book, by the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 25, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: PSA’s, Television, Poetry, 1960s
Dentologia: A Poem on the Diseases of the Teeth
Full text here.
Thanks to Richard Bleiler.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 13, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Hygiene, Poetry, Nineteenth Century, Diseases, Teeth
Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky, and Jayne Mansfield
In 1964, Jayne Mansfield recorded an album for MGM that featured her reading selections from the poetry of Shakespeare, Byron, Shelley, Yeats, and others, as Tchaikovsky's music played in the background. Apparently she hoped the record would show off the asset she was most proud of, her 164 IQ.The album isn't available on CD or MP3, but you can pick up a copy of the original vinyl on eBay for around $30 or $40.
More info: wikipedia
Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 21, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Celebrities, Poetry, 1960s
Staging a Left-olution
Today's post features a bunch of sinister, leftist radicals, in honor of International Left Handers Day (August 13).Also, check out the Bill of Lefts.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 13, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Riots, Protests and Civil Disobedience, Video, Poetry
The Woman with the Serpent’s Tongue
[Click to enlarge]
Original article here.
Once upon a time, poetry still mattered, and could cause great controversies. No social media for such battles, after all. This poem seems to have cost William Watson the post of UK Poet Laureate.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 13, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Poetry, 1900s, Women, Europe, Curses, Slurs, Insults, Vituperation, Libel and Slander
Litigation Through Poetry: Or, Texas Is Hell
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 22, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Law, Nature, Regionalism, Religion, Poetry, 1900s
Can-Fed Husbands
Shamokin News-Dispatch - Apr 1927
From Songs of a Housewife, by Marjorie Rawlings. It's an odd book of poetry, recording in verse all the various complaints and problems of 1920's housewives, such as husbands who complained about being given canned food.
Available at Amazon
, which gives the following, fuller description of it:This charming collection of poems that Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (The Yearling, Cross Creek) wrote in the 1920s were so popular that they appeared one-a-day in a New York newspaper for two full years. Organized by task, the poems graphically depict the life of a housewife (mending, baking, dusting, and the joy of a sunny window) with wisdom and humor. In the days before convenience stores and microwaves, Rawlings reminds us of the horror of having company show up with nothing fixed to feed them. Or in a more timeless vein, the disdain a harried mother feels for the neighbor who has all her Christmas shopping done and wrapped early.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 16, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Wives, Poetry, 1920s
Simultaneous discovery of sheep poetry?
In science, the phenomenon of simultaneous discovery, or "multiple independent discovery," is well known. The term describes how two or more researchers often independently discover the same idea, at around the same time. For instance, both Newton and Leibniz came up with the idea of calculus in the late 17th century, and both Darwin and Wallace developed the concept of evolution by natural selection in the mid-19th century.An example of this phenomenon might have recently occurred in the field of sheep poetry. Though whether it's simultaneous discovery or idea theft depends on whom you believe.
Cooper insists she was completely unaware of Laws' previous work, but Laws thinks it's more likely Cooper stole her idea, either consciously or subconsciously. Who to believe? Perhaps someone should ask the sheep what they think. [journallive.co.uk]
Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 05, 2013 -
Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Poetry
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