COMPLETE [Fortnightly Poetry] Stanzas Written In His Library by Robert Southey - dl

msfry · Post by **msfry** » May 14th, 2018, 3:50 pm

Thanks, Jude. Your poem is PL OK.

Jude1972 · Post by **Jude1972** » May 16th, 2018, 2:10 pm

thank you very much!!!!

msfry · Post by **msfry** » May 17th, 2018, 10:36 am

Gosh, this feels like English Lit class!!! I hope it's okay to discuss the poems we record, especially toward the end of the week. This one has one thing in particular that perplexes me:

MY days among the Dead are past;
Around me I behold,
Where'er these casual eyes are cast,
The mighty minds of old;
My never failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.

That first line implies that his days among the dead are past, meaning long gone, or no more.
But the rest of the stanza clearly states that he still passes his time with the dead, and converses with them day by day.
Of course, he hangs out in his library!

So I took a leap and read the first line: My days among the Dead are passed.

Question:
Were "past" and "passed" interchangeably spelled in the old days?
Did Southey make a spelling mistake? Or the publisher? Or am I missing his meaning here?

tovarisch · Post by **tovarisch** » May 17th, 2018, 10:54 am

msfry wrote: ↑May 17th, 2018, 10:36 am Gosh, this feels like English Lit class!!! I hope it's okay to discuss the poems we record, especially toward the end of the week. This one has one thing in particular that perplexes me:

MY days among the Dead are past;
Around me I behold,
Where'er these casual eyes are cast,
The mighty minds of old;
My never failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.

That first line implies that his days among the dead are past, meaning long gone, or no more.
But the rest of the stanza clearly states that he still passes his time with the dead, and converses with them day by day.
Of course, he hangs out in his library!

So I took a leap and read the first line: My days among the Dead are passed.

Question:
Were "past" and "passed" interchangeably spelled in the old days?
Did Southey make a spelling mistake? Or the publisher? Or am I missing his meaning here?

From what I understand, "passed" and "past" sound exactly the same in the modern English.

As far as whether "past" was ever used as past participle of "pass", likely no, but the confusion is not uncommon because 'past' is a noun, an adjective, an adverb, and a preposition. Write it off under artistic license that Robert Southey held in using 'past' where 'passed' would be more "correct"

msfry · Post by **msfry** » May 18th, 2018, 8:15 am

I've always had trouble with adverbs. Could you give me an example, please?

Noun: my past
Verb: He passed up the exit
Adjective: in past years
Adverb: ?

Foon · Post by **Foon** » May 18th, 2018, 8:44 am

msfry wrote: ↑May 18th, 2018, 8:15 am I've always had trouble with adverbs. Could you give me an example, please?

Noun: my past
Verb: He passed up the exit
Adjective: in past years
Adverb: ?

Adverb can be something like "the time went past".

msfry · Post by **msfry** » May 18th, 2018, 9:43 am

Ah, something that modifies a verb:
The time went past, the time passed quickly.
Thanks.

Foon · Post by **Foon** » May 18th, 2018, 9:53 am

Exactly! Or most other things that aren't nouns, for example "that is very good" (in this case, the adverb modifies an adjective). Although I don't think you can do that with "past".

Guess those high school English classes did stick around after all! I feel like I know English grammar rules better than those of my native language. Guess that's to be expected with a foreign language since you have to learn everything explicitly, instead of just "knowing what's right".

WiltedScribe · Post by **WiltedScribe** » May 18th, 2018, 4:58 pm

My rendition: https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/hislibrary_southey_tp_128kb.mp3 (1:36)

msfry · Post by **msfry** » May 18th, 2018, 8:30 pm

Hey, Tomas. Your rendition is PL OK

Thanks for joining in.

GrayHouse · Post by **GrayHouse** » May 19th, 2018, 1:34 pm

Some more stanzas for this collection.

- https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/hislibrary_southey_ik_128kb.mp3
- 1:26

Thanks,
-Ian

msfry · Post by **msfry** » May 19th, 2018, 2:48 pm

Another one. Cool! Thanks GrayHouse. You are PL OK.

msfry · Post by **msfry** » May 20th, 2018, 6:50 am

David, I am confused about when this project ends. First Post says 0600 GMT Sunday, May 20th, 2018 (12:00AM CDT)

Does this mean midnight on Sunday, noon on Sunday, or midnight on Saturday?

As many people have confusion on the 12 Noon vs 12 Midnight hour, some people choose an hour or a minute off of 12, like 11 or 11:59 PM. (I do this to control Microsoft updates on my computer.) Then there's Daylight Savings Time which puts CDT sometimes 5 hours behind (or is it ahead of) GMT, other times 6.

What do you think?

tovarisch · Post by **tovarisch** » May 20th, 2018, 7:16 am

Oh-six hundred hours GMT on Sunday is the exact moment between Saturday and Sunday in the time zone that has six hours difference with London UK. That's midnight somewhere in USA, depending on the season.

Post by **aradlaw** » May 20th, 2018, 6:11 pm

Usually, I consider the poem closed whenever I get around to closing and cataloging it on the Sunday, very late today, we've had out 3 year old granddaughter for a few days