 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009Auden: qualm
Hello: Any suggestions about the meaning of "qualm" here? It's rare as verb. ---- How will you answer when from their qualming spring The immortal nymphs fly shrieking, And out of the open sky The pantocratic riddle breaks - ‘Who are you and why?’ Under Sirius W. H. Auden, p. 417 http://audiopoetry.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/under-sirius/ ---- -- Thanks. Marius Hancu > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > The pantocratic riddle breaks - > ‘Who are you and why?’ I find a commentary: - quoted by Burchfield (without comment) as the sole example of qualming (ppl. a.; 'Of the nature of a qualm; characterized by qualms') since Milton (1644); http://oed.hertford.ox.ac.uk/main/content/view/365/402/  SignatureDavid > Any suggestions about the meaning of "qualm" here? It's rare as > verb. > ---- > How will you answer when from their qualming spring > The immortal nymphs fly shrieking, > And out of the open sky > The pantocratic riddle breaks - > ‘Who are you and why?’ > Under Sirius > W. H. Auden, p. 417 > http://audiopoetry.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/under-sirius/ > ---- "Welling up in sudden agitation" is what I get from it. Physical qualms, as the dictionary says, are often located in the stomach; so I think you can import the rising and closing feel of an attack of nausea (and there's a lot of sea in the poem) with the ordinary connotation of hesitant fear. Maybe influenced by the German word for "spring", Quelle. > > Any suggestions about the meaning of "qualm" here? It's rare as > > verb. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Under Sirius > > W. H.Auden, p. 417 > >http://audiopoetry.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/under-sirius/ > > ---- > > "Welling up in sudden agitation" is what I get from it. Physical > qualms, as the dictionary says, are often located in the stomach Possible indeed. Thank you both. Marius Hancu |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.