god only knows where Delia gets this stuff

[ellenkushner]

I just referenced a quote on Twitter ("I think I just figured out how to write one of the novels I've been ruminating (like a cow in the contiguous shade, yeah).") and nobody picked up on it.  So I looked it up.  It's from James Thomson's 1726 poem, "Winter, A Poem."  

No, me, neither.

Here's the relevant (to some degree of "relevant") passage:

FOR, see! where Winter comes, himself, confest,
Striding the gloomy Blast. First Rains obscure
Drive thro' the mingling Skies, with Tempest foul;
Beat on the Mountain's Brow, and shake the Woods, [115]
That, sounding, wave below. The dreary Plain
Lies overwhelm'd, and lost. The bellying Clouds
Combine, and deepening into Night, shut up
The Day's fair Face. The Wanderers of Heaven,
Each to his Home, retire; save those that love [120]
To take their Pastime in the troubled Air,
And, skimming, flutter round the dimply Flood.
The Cattle, from th'untasted Fields, return,
And ask, with Meaning low, their wonted Stalls;
Or ruminate in the contiguous Shade: [125]

Delia frequently refers to cows "ruminating in the contiguous shade," so I thought it was something well-known.  OK, she does have a PhD - but it's in Renaissance Studies!  I shall have to ask her about this when i get home (to some degree of "home" - headed back to Roanoke on Weds., to rejoin her at Hollins - but home is where the heart is).

Comments

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

I have a dissertation chapter in Thomson's season poems. They're not read now, but were hugely popular and influential in his time. In particular, writers of all stripes freely mined his natural descriptions for quotes, using his work as more of a commonplace book than a poem. So its highly likely you'd see that quoted elsewhere, maybe multiple elsewheres, in any writing from roughly 1740 to the late 19th century.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

See Delia's explanation below - her grandmother was definitely 19c!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

My best friend -- also a literature specialist -- has a similar ability. It's entirely possible they have a Secret Collective Memory.

[kittydesade.livejournal.com]

Damn. And I was just congratulating myself on being litgeeky by commenting about someone possibly being a troublesome priest.

-- @mightybattlecat

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Oh, hello, you!

Nope, sorry; in the litgeekery menagerie, I'm afraid you're still just a . . . kitten.

[kittydesade.livejournal.com]

We now pause while I make noises only dolphins and dogs can hear at being "oh hello you"d by one of the authors on my comfort reading shelf. Ahem. >.>

Meow? =^o^=

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Some Thomson (and Georgian poetry generally) still reads well. I rather like him, myself, for just that ponderous quality given to the slightest subjects.

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

It was something my mother used to say, which I think she got from her mother, who was very much the kind of woman who kept commonplace books.

She also quoted Joyce Kilmer.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Dude, we all can quote Joyce Kilmer.

But thanks - much is explained. Did you see what Pat O'Connor wrote about this on my Facebook post? Such erudite folks I know!

OK, I'm gonna go get hotel breakfast now, and then go teach class on Characterization. They've all been up til 5am finishing their stories, so I'll go light and just give them the People Game. Goodness, where does the time go? xxxxoxox moi

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

I'm just thrilled to see a modern writer still quoting Thomson! You rule.

[pattytempleton.livejournal.com]

Cows ruminating in the contiguous shade??? Go ahead, just give me another reason to adore both of you. If my head bursts from all the awesome, reanimate me as a pet zombie and I'll clean it up off your desk.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Will you marry me?

Oh, no wait - OK - well . . . maybe we can just be LJ Friends? OK, yeah. That.