[ok, so not strictly on adjective order, but i felt like sharing]
HOMAGE TO THE SYNONYM
(On reading of Dhana~njaya's Namamala in K.A. Nilakanta Sastri's A History of South India)
Kovalam Beach, Kerala
12th June 2011
I felt it strange to read today some news of writers past,
Their time was one of heterogeneity; sectarian views surpassed.
[Though sectarianism has now taken hold; and o ffered much up to Shiva. Jains, Buddhists and Ajivikas: all gone, save bits in literature.]
The passage that stirred interest, perhaps it's not of note,
But an ancient `lexicon of synonyms' - what type of person wrote?
Well in those times of philosophy, many literate were courtiers
Those commissioned men could run amok; quite di fferent to what's taught here!
[Though of freedoms known back in the past, we've not yet lost a single;
For words remain like cocktails; a great joy to mix and mingle.]
To reflection's fruit: the synonym, it's sacred to the core,
Turning misconceptions of inequitability, it's something of a door.
It has been said, with few against, that language has a mid:
"The verb to be" (or is/was/will be, in our poor contorted chit).
Yet my subject's not, as etymology'd posit, mere beast of straight assignment,
But another way to subtlety, word choice and thought alignment.
Its operands, once affixed, are viewed in context and kind,
Just as yoga might work limbs and flesh: en-route to still the mind.
Younger, I gave a speech on her: those notions of 'to be',
Through an ancient Chinese philosophical school - Logicians, mon cheri!
Their language one of ambiguity and subtleties aplenty,
Compare our Indo-Aryan pauper writ, with so few words for "empty"!
And of languages designed now for an audience of machines,
They cannot seek to replicate our great linguistic genes.
Of Daoists we did not take heed: fighting nature, reaping pain
Now as never we need a champion, to help disembark this train.
"Without further ado!" I shall then move for a humble nomination
Of the synonym as an ailment for our present day conflagration.
HOMAGE TO THE SYNONYM (On reading of Dhana~njaya's Namamala in K.A. Nilakanta Sastri's A History of South India) Kovalam Beach, Kerala 12th June 2011
I felt it strange to read today some news of writers past, Their time was one of heterogeneity; sectarian views surpassed. [Though sectarianism has now taken hold; and o ffered much up to Shiva. Jains, Buddhists and Ajivikas: all gone, save bits in literature.]
The passage that stirred interest, perhaps it's not of note, But an ancient `lexicon of synonyms' - what type of person wrote? Well in those times of philosophy, many literate were courtiers Those commissioned men could run amok; quite di fferent to what's taught here! [Though of freedoms known back in the past, we've not yet lost a single; For words remain like cocktails; a great joy to mix and mingle.]
To reflection's fruit: the synonym, it's sacred to the core, Turning misconceptions of inequitability, it's something of a door. It has been said, with few against, that language has a mid: "The verb to be" (or is/was/will be, in our poor contorted chit).
Yet my subject's not, as etymology'd posit, mere beast of straight assignment, But another way to subtlety, word choice and thought alignment.
Its operands, once affixed, are viewed in context and kind, Just as yoga might work limbs and flesh: en-route to still the mind.
Younger, I gave a speech on her: those notions of 'to be', Through an ancient Chinese philosophical school - Logicians, mon cheri!
Their language one of ambiguity and subtleties aplenty, Compare our Indo-Aryan pauper writ, with so few words for "empty"!
And of languages designed now for an audience of machines, They cannot seek to replicate our great linguistic genes. Of Daoists we did not take heed: fighting nature, reaping pain
Now as never we need a champion, to help disembark this train. "Without further ado!" I shall then move for a humble nomination Of the synonym as an ailment for our present day conflagration.