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old hand
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OP
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Quick challenge: name the poet and complete the passage.
Winter is icumin in
Lhude sing goddam...
Clues will be provided later if this is too obscure.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Got it! Sending private so as not to spoil the search for others.
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old hand
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OP
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PResume you found the original as well...?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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old hand
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OP
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Carpal Tunnel
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Got it, too. Now... whence cometh it? In other words, what is this a take-off on?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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according to my google, it is a parody of the Middle English "Cuckoo Song"...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Those of us blessed enough to live at the top end of the world( yart gratia yartis), can use the original wording. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw this post - I have a great little book called The Oxford book of English Verse 1250-1918, in which all the poems are arranged chronolgically, and guess which one comes first - listed as circa 1226? 
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old hand
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OP
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Max, Anna, tsuwm and co
The original is, by most accounts, a 'classic'. I simply wished to give some credit to the winter version, which I hesitate to call a parody purely because i) it is by a very distinguished poet, and ii) if you've ever lived in London, it makes profound sense...
cheer
il miglior fabbro (not)
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old hand
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There must be something wrong with my AP English/British Lit. class. According to this class the first English language poet was Caedmon and the first famous poet was Chaucer, neither of whom fit into the time frame.
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Carpal Tunnel
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There must be something wrong with my AP English/British Lit. class. According to this class the first English language poet was Caedmon
Sorry, I am no scholar, so I am unable to help. However, from a purely lay point of view, for a teacher or reference work to say "the first English poet was ..." seems a bit ambitious. For the statement to have meaning, one must accept a definition of "English" and "poet" - and then prove that no one matched that description prior to the chosen individual. As it happens, my book attributes Cuckoo Song to that most prolific of authors - Anon.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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the first English language poet was Caedmon
I will stick my neck out here, fully expecting to have it chopped off at the collar, as I have no idea of who was Caedmon, nor whenor what he wrote. However, the name sounds typically British and a bit dark-age-ish. There is considerable debate among historians (well- there was, I haven't heard it recently) as to when the inhabitants of this cess-pitted isle became "English", but no-one dates it b4 1066, and I'm fairly sure no-one really believes it was as late as the 13th century, so it sounds to me (says he, ducking nervously) as though Caedmon was writing before "English" was a real thing.
The Cuckoo Song is, indeed, a classic which brings back fond memories of the school music-room, where we used to sing that lovely song.
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Carpal Tunnel
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says he...
Hello, s'ayleur!
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veteran
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veteran
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Ah-hah! Fast search ( http://www.alltheweb.com) did it for me - Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm !
Sing : Goddam.
- Ezra Pound, Ancient MusicShona appreciated the fact that the page I found this on - http://www.gardendigest.com/winter.htm- also contained an e.e.cummings quote: the snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, I knew it was Pound. That's why I didn't spoil it for the others *materternal glance @ Shona*. The original has been attributed to Chaucer, but you know how the Middle Ages were....
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old hand
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old hand
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to say "the first English poet was ..." seems a bit ambitious
Well, it's straight from the history of the one and only Venerable Bede. He was supposedly the first to write in Old English.
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veteran
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Ezra Pound. I don't recall all the poem at the moment, but if I do, I'll be back.
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