If you like the work I do, then you can support it here: www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=D8LSKGJP2NL4N Thank you very much indeed for watching my channel.
Hi, tried contacting you via Twitter but haven't seen you post for a while. Wanted to DM you some articles which may be of interest for your Austen research?
This fascinating talk sheds light on a passage in Sense and Sensibility, in which Elinor is commenting rather sarcastically on the rapidity with which Marianne becomes intimate with Willoughby. She notes that among other discoveries, “you have received every assurance of his admiring Pope no more than is proper.” Of course, Marianne is enthusiastic for the modern romantic poets and less so for the old-fashioned Alexander Pope.
Well! I must read Pride and Prejudice for the 288th time(at least!)but with an eye for the epigrams! I have always enjoyed Austen's wit, and now am freshly armed with new insight into that intentional style! Beautifully explained, and perfectly illustrated- thank you! I will have epigrams (and epigrammatic style) on my radar henceforth!!❤
It seems to me some of the later epigrams keep an echo of the rhyming ones, with alliteration - as in "enjoy life - or endure it". Epigrams also seem to lean towards being proverbs - "no pain, no gain"; "finders: keepers, losers: weepers" - there's a wealth of these in English. I can see the Romantics' point - the best epigrams, such as Pope's one about fools and poets, are delightful; the worst tend to triteness, or just being a trick of words. The art appears to be to balance concision with actually saying something - not easy!
I did something with that epigram, the following lines make it even better : "Hope springs infernal in the human jest/(man never is, but ever to be, blessed)." The context was a rather passionate theological argument. There does seem to be very little new under the sun, but how refreshing it is to visit this channel.
Thank you for a wonderful lecture. There is an (almost certainly apocryphal) saying attributed to Michaelangelo: when asked "How did you make a sculpture of David?", he replied "I chipped away all of the block of marble that I did not need". It's a saying which, so far as I am aware, has no basis in fact - but which ought to be true - and your talk on Pope brought this to mind. On the other hand, applying Wordsworth's comment about the "burden of the mystery", one can see the Sistine Chapel. Thank god I'm an atheist - I don't have to choose between the two: I can love both the neo-classicists and the romantics.
Thank God if you will, but even a believer can love the romantics and the neo-classists. It's a logical chord progression, if I may be forgiven for mixing the metaphor ...
From my favourite Shakespeare character Benedict “A college of witcrackers cannot flout me out of my humour. Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epigram. No!” I often wondered what it meant.
When the early 18th century designer of monumental buildings, Sir John Vanbrugh died, Able Evans flippantly suggested that his epitaph should be "Lie heavy on him earth, for he laid many a heavy load on thee". So, an epitaph and an epigram?
How are you doing dr octavia thank you very much for your wonderful channel for not university students and literature lovers too especially us as foreigners subscribers as overseas students want to increase our cultural level improve our English language as well as always iam gathering main information about topics you mentioned briefly here it’s the definition of epigram concise poem dealing pointedly and often satirically with single thought or event. Epigram is often ending with ingenious turn of thought example of epigram I can resist everything but temptation by Oscar wild . Epigram is originally Latin word which means inscription and person who composes or uses epigram is epigrammatist. Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo , Emerson and Oscar Wilde are all known for their highly epigramatic writing style and epigrammatic style concise clever. Amusing Greek philosopher Heraclitus is famous for saying can’t stand in same river twice in 17 th century in his Maximes. We appreciate your great efforts stay safe blessed good luck to you your family friends
I can't help but wonder if there's some kind of connection between the vogue for easily memorized and repeated, self-contained poetic couplets, and the fashion for extracts and commonplace books into which they could easily be copied. I know Austen was often critical of the sort of people who use extracts and aphorisms as a substitute for thinking (see also her attitude towards conduct books) and I wonder if she was ahead of her time on this or if it was already a recognized issue.
Pope's True Wit... epigram and the analogy of salad dressing? I can see (taste) the analogy, since I frequently make a salad dressing, but what "dressing" might one use to improve true wit in a similar manner? Concision (new word for me, learned from this video) suggests that the wit must be refined to within an inch of its life, thus concise, in order to become true wit.
I've written several poems in rhymed couplets and have been unable to publish any of them. Here's an excerpted couplet, just for fun: My mother died...she's in a jar. I love you Mum, wherever you are.
If you like the work I do, then you can support it here:
www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=D8LSKGJP2NL4N
Thank you very much indeed for watching my channel.
Hi, tried contacting you via Twitter but haven't seen you post for a while. Wanted to DM you some articles which may be of interest for your Austen research?
This fascinating talk sheds light on a passage in Sense and Sensibility, in which Elinor is commenting rather sarcastically on the rapidity with which Marianne becomes intimate with Willoughby. She notes that among other discoveries, “you have received every assurance of his admiring Pope no more than is proper.” Of course, Marianne is enthusiastic for the modern romantic poets and less so for the old-fashioned Alexander Pope.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone." -- One of America's greatest epigrammers, Dorothy Parker.
Well! I must read Pride and Prejudice for the 288th time(at least!)but with an eye for the epigrams! I have always enjoyed Austen's wit, and now am freshly armed with new insight into that intentional style! Beautifully explained, and perfectly illustrated- thank you! I will have epigrams (and epigrammatic style) on my radar henceforth!!❤
It's always tricky to quote Martial within the community guidelines!
It seems to me some of the later epigrams keep an echo of the rhyming ones, with alliteration - as in "enjoy life - or endure it". Epigrams also seem to lean towards being proverbs - "no pain, no gain"; "finders: keepers, losers: weepers" - there's a wealth of these in English. I can see the Romantics' point - the best epigrams, such as Pope's one about fools and poets, are delightful; the worst tend to triteness, or just being a trick of words. The art appears to be to balance concision with actually saying something - not easy!
I did something with that epigram, the following lines make it even better : "Hope springs infernal in the human jest/(man never is, but ever to be, blessed)." The context was a rather passionate theological argument. There does seem to be very little new under the sun, but how refreshing it is to visit this channel.
Thanks Octavia. Thoroughly enjoyable as ever.
Thank you for a wonderful lecture.
There is an (almost certainly apocryphal) saying attributed to Michaelangelo: when asked "How did you make a sculpture of David?", he replied "I chipped away all of the block of marble that I did not need". It's a saying which, so far as I am aware, has no basis in fact - but which ought to be true - and your talk on Pope brought this to mind.
On the other hand, applying Wordsworth's comment about the "burden of the mystery", one can see the Sistine Chapel.
Thank god I'm an atheist - I don't have to choose between the two: I can love both the neo-classicists and the romantics.
Thank God if you will, but even a believer can love the romantics and the neo-classists. It's a logical chord progression, if I may be forgiven for mixing the metaphor ...
Thanking god as an atheist is a bit of an oxymoron. Although using g, not G, might be one's get-out-of-jail-free card.
@@SuperLittleTyke Nope - I was just using irony,
My favorite lines from Wilde are
I can resist anything except temptation
And
I have nothing to declare except my genius.
Isn't epigram just a posh word for saying?
From my favourite Shakespeare character Benedict “A college of witcrackers cannot flout me out of my humour. Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epigram. No!” I often wondered what it meant.
When the early 18th century designer of monumental buildings, Sir John Vanbrugh died, Able Evans flippantly suggested that his epitaph should be "Lie heavy on him earth, for he laid many a heavy load on thee". So, an epitaph and an epigram?
I've been much informed and enlightened on the subject... Superb
I really like your podcast analyses of classical literature and style etc. Thank you!
How are you doing dr octavia thank you very much for your wonderful channel for not university students and literature lovers too especially us as foreigners subscribers as overseas students want to increase our cultural level improve our English language as well as always iam gathering main information about topics you mentioned briefly here it’s the definition of epigram concise poem dealing pointedly and often satirically with single thought or event. Epigram is often ending with ingenious turn of thought example of epigram I can resist everything but temptation by Oscar wild . Epigram is originally Latin word which means inscription and person who composes or uses epigram is epigrammatist. Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo , Emerson and Oscar Wilde are all known for their highly epigramatic writing style and epigrammatic style concise clever. Amusing Greek philosopher Heraclitus is famous for saying can’t stand in same river twice in 17 th century in his Maximes. We appreciate your great efforts stay safe blessed good luck to you your family friends
Thanks. My cousin John Weever, an associate of Jonson and Shakespeare, published his book of Epigrammes in 1599. I was never quite sure what it meant.
oh thank you, thank you! This is a question i have had for a long time.
A clever epigram triggers contemplation, it is like a stone thrown in a still pool.
I can't help but wonder if there's some kind of connection between the vogue for easily memorized and repeated, self-contained poetic couplets, and the fashion for extracts and commonplace books into which they could easily be copied.
I know Austen was often critical of the sort of people who use extracts and aphorisms as a substitute for thinking (see also her attitude towards conduct books) and I wonder if she was ahead of her time on this or if it was already a recognized issue.
Pope's True Wit... epigram and the analogy of salad dressing? I can see (taste) the analogy, since I frequently make a salad dressing, but what "dressing" might one use to improve true wit in a similar manner? Concision (new word for me, learned from this video) suggests that the wit must be refined to within an inch of its life, thus concise, in order to become true wit.
Thank you, a lovely explanation / analysis
Very interesting. I love your videos.
Thanks so much!
Well done. It would be fun to have more exaples of bad epigrams.
And now please, a lesson on irony. I've never understood what it is, and I'm _not_ American.
Wonder if you have done published writing and where it might be found. .
I've written several poems in rhymed couplets and have been unable to publish any of them. Here's an excerpted couplet, just for fun:
My mother died...she's in a jar.
I love you Mum, wherever you are.
📖
Does this count?
"I do not write for such dull Elves
As have not a great deal of Ingenuity themselves"
Jane Austen
“Heterosexuality is not normal, it’s simply common.”
Dorothy Parker, 1893-1967
Alas, nothing to share short and witty,
Such is life, more the pity...
Perhaps for me,
I doubt for thee
audio and video still are desynchronised
First
Sacrificing precision to concision? Ewww