Stook is an interesting one to pick out, because farmers don't make stooks
any more (in these (British) parts anyway) -- these days they bale hay in
those great big spiral things. The custom dies, and so the word too is
sentenced to death (but might be a long time dying).
Reminds me of the troubador I particularly admire, Marcabru, who had a thing
about 'rusty' words.
P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Roger Day
> Sent: 22 December 2007 10:21
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: From albedo to zugunruhe
>
> Heaney uses a lot of older words in his poetry - stook comes to mind
> as one of those words - and , in reaction to him, I thought, what am
> I? A librarian, a curator of dead words? I forsook that position a
> while ago.
>
> I suppose it's that writer's problem of what words to use where and
> when, to what end, the field of words wherein we pitch the tent of our
> work.
>
> Roger
>
> On Dec 21, 2007 7:54 PM, Peter Cudmore <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> > There's a rather lovely essay by James Meek on the Guardian website at
the
> > moment, called
> > From albedo to zugunruhe. Put me in mind of Orwell's essay Politics and
the
> > English Language, since it addresses the problem of expressing clarity
and
> > character in the written word.
> >
> > Standfirst reads:
> >
> > How often do you bother looking up an unfamiliar word? Should writers
make
> > us reach for our dictionaries? Four years ago, James Meek vowed to learn
> > every alien word he encountered, and discovered poetry in obscurity
> >
> > And the link: <
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2227650,00.html
> > >
> >
> > It's funny to see some terms that seem to me familiar and normal
> > (geology/geography terms I learnt at school) being found exotic and
rare.
> >
> > P
> >
>
>
>
> --
> My Stuff: http://www.badstep.net/
> "And we're slow to acknowledge the knots on the laces
> heart it races"
> Architecture in Helsinki
|