Etymological Dirge by Heather McHugh

Etymological Dirge 

by Heather McHugh    

    'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear.

Calm comes from burning.

Tall comes from fast.

Comely doesn't come from come.

Person comes from mask.

The kin of charity is whore,

the root of charity is dear.

Incentive has its source in song

and winning in the sufferer.

Afford yourself what you can carry out.

A coward and a coda share a word.

We get our ugliness from fear.

We get our danger from the lord.

I cannot believe that I never posted this poem on this blog before. It is one of my favorite poems--one that had an enormous influence on me and my poetry--by one of my favorite poets and an all-around great person.

I do not think I need to say much about this, but just in case:

etymology refers to the history and the origin of words

a dirge is a lament, typically played/sung at a funeral

McHugh uses slant rhymes here

the rhythm here is reminiscent of childhood jump rope songs, chants, and catchy earworms that get in your head and stay there--very effective here and not sing-songy like a

greeting card (it does not have enough syllables and is too brusque for that)

While seemingly just a fun lesson for us Word Nerds, the poem throws a punch in the last two lines, although the two lines prior begin to set us up.

This poem was written and published decades ago, but those last two lines seen particularly

meaningful today. Yes, etymology. But, yes, too, to the fact that fear brings out the worst in us, an ugliness that is difficult to shove back down (particularly when it is on a massive level on a national scale).

The last line also seems to fit today's landscape--religion is being used as a weapon. Of course, this has been true since humans created religions. Does the last line also mean that having religion makes us dangerous? I would say many people believe this, especially when so much evil is done in the name of religion. I can count on one hand the religious people I know who are the epitome of the good things any religion preaches. The number of religious people who are, for example, currently fine with starving their neighbors and taking away health care from fellow citizens is too high to count.

Ugh. Anyway, Etymology is fun!

Gymnasium means naked exercise!

Mark Twain invented the terms leapfrog, The Gilded Age, and Hard-Boiled.

American English has words from all over the world, many from Native American languages; these include raccoon, coyote, chocolate, bayou, moccasin, pecan, toboggan, and skunk, to name just a few.

Grace Hopper invented bug and debugging, as referring to computers.

Gunslinger, gaslight (as in to gaslight someone), and catfish (to trick someone online, not the fish) all come to us from Hollywood.

Now, a call back to Wednesday's blog. The two poems I posted by Jun Fujita were first published in Poetry under the title "Tanka." Here is the link, which I neglected to post. Maggie Chula informed me that these are not really tanka, and that our understanding of tanka has greatly evolved since 1921, when Poetry published these two pieces. Maggie is an expert on Japanese forms. I am not. So I am going to take her word.

Please click on this link to read a Tanka Prose of Maggie's, published in Contemporary Haibun Online. It is a beautiful piece, titled Even the Weeds.

So today is a bonus day--two great poems by two great poets/people! Enjoy!