Funny peculiar, indeed, Lawrence.
I didnt say you were 'cheery,' a word I dont use, either. I did wonder if you could occasionally smile while writing & I think you might, occasionally.
But I'll take your penultimate paragraph as that important stanbce, & agree....
Doug
On 2012-01-18, at 8:25 AM, Lawrence Upton wrote:
> It's funny, funny peculiar, but this has been going around my head. It
> isn't unpleasant. I haven't lost sleep over it; but I do find myself being
> aware of it in an unprecedented way.
>
> That is, I have been aware of myself and my mood as I make poetry; and I
> am not feeling cheery.
>
> It's not a word I use. I can imagine using it as a put down. As in: the
> trouble with him was that he was always cheery.
>
> I looked it up and, at first, thought it was 19th century USAmerican; but
> further searches suggest it originated here somewhere in the 15th century,
> so perhaps before a European America, certainly before there could be said
> to have been divergence between language usage.
>
> So I am unable to say: ah well it's an American word -- as if that would
> explain anything in itself!
>
> I was looking for an explanation for my difficulty with the word, a
> difficulty that I had not been that aware of.
>
> Perhaps there *are differences of usage, but non geographical ones. I was
> struck by the proposed equivalence of being cheery and smiling. (I'd refer
> anyone of that persuasion to consider the number of people who have
> committed suicide shortly after appearing to be happy and optimistic.)
>
> To me, and perhaps I have gone all my life misapprehending the word,
> _cheery_ can be stored with _heart-warming_. I saw recently and noted that
> someone is starring in something heart-warming; and I received that rather
> as I received news of the Italian cruise ship sinking. Heart-warming
> suggests, to me, shallowness, sentimentality and the ability to behave
> like a performing bear, but without being prompted.
>
> Cheery people believe something will turn up. Cheery people, faced with
> substantial evidence that someone else is a schmuck, say _oh i don't think
> he / she meant it like that_, or something similar.
>
> Doug tried the word _joyful_ -- _(joyful?) noises_ -- of my poetry; and I
> would be more than happy with that.
>
> Do know that I have no hard feelings or sense of grievance here; I am just
> finding the use of a word by others and the response to my response to it
> a bit odd. It may well be me marching out of step, to use an inappropriate
> simile.
>
> I reiterate, though, that I find the situations we are in too serious to
> be cheery. I have twice laughed out loud at the Steve Bell cartoons in the
> Guardian about Alex Salmond and Scottish independence. He's just taking
> the piss; and I enjoy it although, in so far as I have an opinion, I am
> for the break up of UK. Perhaps all that does cheer me is a hit against
> ruling systems.
>
> Yet I can't even take heart from peoples' opposition. I am party to some
> of the thoughts of poets who consider themselves politically engaged; and
> it does not please me.
>
> Maybe if I had a space ship I'd just leave a note saying _so long and
> thanks for all the poetry_
>
> I think an enthusiasm for poetry, or anything, is other than what I
> understand as cheeriness. Perhaps for me it is a defiance of low spirits,
> but without falsifying the ground note mood.
>
> I could ramble on; but I suspect it is something which is uninteresting
> except to me; so I'll leave it.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
> Subject: Re: The bar between The Gugh and St Agnes seen from St Agnes
> From: "Lawrence Upton" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, January 17, 2012 16:38
> To: [log in to unmask]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I didn't say that I don't smile, Doug
>
> L
>
> On Tue, January 17, 2012 15:59, Douglas Barbour wrote:
>> Coming to this late, I share Andrew's concern, but not too much. Anyone
>> who can make such (joyful?) noises, has to be able to smile on occasion,
>> Lawrence, & so I believe you do...
>>
>>
>> Doug
>> On 2012-01-17, at 3:39 AM, Lawrence Upton wrote:
>>
>>
>>> H Andrew
>>>
>>>
>>> I think maybe it is the word _cheery_ which did it for me.
>>>
>>>
>>> And perhaps I was also speaking of poetry rather than life in total;
>>> and in particular this mode of poetry. It is verging on the milennial
>>> before I have started.
>>>
>>> Perhaps. Consider me an unbreliable narrator. Maybe.
>>>
>>>
>>>> I find this sad. Yet my cheeriness can be a mask to hide despair.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Aha.
>>>
>>>
>>> But no
>>>
>>>> cheeriness would worry me - which would make me more glum, I
>>>> acknowledge.
>>>>
>>>> Oh, perhaps all I can say is, Cheer up!
>>>>
>>>
>>> Oh I'm fine. There was a degree of posturing to make a point.
>>>
>>>
>>> But thank you for your concern, Andrew!
>>>
>>>
>>> Eeyore
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Douglas Barbour
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>> http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>>
>>
>> Latest books:
>> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
>> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
>> Wednesdays'
>> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10
>> .html
>>
>>
>> What dull barbarians are not proud of
>> their dullness and barbarism?
>>
>> Thackeray
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -----
> UNFRAMED GRAPHICS by Lawrence Upton
> 42 pages; A5 paperback; colour cover
> Writers Forum 978 1 84254 277 4
> wfuk.org.uk/blog
> ----
>
>
> -----
> UNFRAMED GRAPHICS by Lawrence Upton
> 42 pages; A5 paperback; colour cover
> Writers Forum 978 1 84254 277 4
> wfuk.org.uk/blog
> ----
>
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Latest books:
Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
What dull barbarians are not proud of
their dullness and barbarism?
Thackeray
