Hail Poetry!

benedight = blessed

You were lucky, Piffka, to have a mother who read poetry to you! Where is Irving buried? Somewhere in NY, I'm guessing. Did you know that his pseudonym, Father Knickerbocker, is the basis for the NY Knicks?

I was lucky with my parents, yes indeed.

Washington Irving is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, protected by a short iron fence and surrounded by about twenty other Irvings. They're all on the hill above Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow -built in 1685, which to my mind is pretty darn impressively old. I am looking at some photos as I tell you this, I think one of these is posted on littlek's website, under Crone Catskill Gathering or some such thing.

Are you sure about benedight meaning blessed? I suppose it is more likely to be from the L. bene meaning blessed than from L. benigitas meaning kindness. Either one is quite nice. I hope Longfellow's wife appreciated him as much as he did her.

I did not know that about the NY Knicks. Is there more to this story? They are a basketball team, right? Did he play? I admit I think it would be a better name for a soccer football club. (Knicks Kick!)

Piffka, the Knicks came into existence quite a bit later than Irving's time. They do play basketball, and their full name is the NY Knickerbockers.

I read Irving in college, as I majored (and stuck around for an M.A.) in 19th C. American lit. Never saw his gravesite, though I grew up in NY. Did make it up to Concord, Mass., where several of my heroes are buried (Emerson and Thoreau, among them).

Re parents: Mine respected learning, but they saw it as a means to an end--gaining a career. Not terribly enlightened , but they were children of immigrants and had never gone to college. For me reading was (and is) a wonderful escape!

I figured that... about the basketball team being after -- but why did they name the team after him unless he played or wrote about the game. I'd think that is the only case of a major sports team being named for a literary lion.

You have a Master's in English Literature?? Omigosh, I'd better sit down!

Well, I doubt anyone was thinking about Irving when they named the team. Knickerbocker had become identified with NYC by then (I'm not sure of the intermediary steps), kind of like Gotham.

As for my master's, please no obeisance is needed! I had no idea what to do after getting my B.A., so I stuck around and got the M.A. Then I lit out for the territory...

And aren't you glad you did? God's Country, we calls it, even the atheists.

Right you are, Piffka, God's country it is, our current air stagnation notwithstanding...

Not too bad yet, down here in Bombay.

And may I say... with compliments... spoken like a true native who is always uneasy with so much sunshine at this time of year.

That's true; it always feel weird around here when it's sunny at this time of year. Unhealthy, too...

Yep. It's just about time to start looking around for something to sacrifice.

You did, I hope, get my little joke about Robert Frost's poem... the one where he believed he'd seen only one day that was clear from morning 'til night?

Oh yes, Piffka! As I recall they get some gems of dreary winter days in New England, too. I sometimes miss Upstate NY, where I went to school, though I'm not sure ol' Tom Bones here could hack the c-o-l-d winters anymore...

D'artagnan Piffka et al

Longfellow, who had been very much in decline and neglected in recent years (as 'too Victorian' etc) is now having a minor revival, I understand.

About six months ago I heard a Longfellow scholar on NPR discussing him. He read 'The Cross of Snow' as an example of Longfellow's better work.

He also stated that Longfellow's wife died most tragically, her clothing catching fire (from a candle I think) in an upstairs bedroom. If I am not mistaken, the poet was in the house and burned himself badly on the hands in an unsuccessful attempt to save her.

Knowing the circumstances of her death in the same bedroom is very poignant, and helps us to understand the deep anguish in his words.."never through martyrdom of fire...etc..."

Right you are on all counts, jjorge! I rediscovered him myself about a year ago after reading a respectful article in the Times Literary Supplement. Though the critic was a bit snarky about his more rhymy stuff ("Hiawatha"), he raved about Longfellow's more complex poems. They printed "Cross of Snow" in its entirety, and it inspired me to dig up my college paperback of selected poems. The story of his wife's death certainly does give the poem a poignancy.

Yes, I guess they invented the word dreary, there. But you're feeling like Tom Bones?? And on a pretty day like this??? I find I have such a limited tolerance for heat and cold... I've been spoiled.

Do you know who Captain Puget and Ivar Haglund are? Have you ever read the song that Ivar's has on their paper placemats? The one that starts, "I've traveled all over this country, prospecting and digging for gold..."

I love the line: "When I looked on the prospects so gloomy"

For anyone interested in reading and hearing this colorful if dubious masterpiece:

http://www.geocities.com/lilandr/kantoj/diversaj/AcresOfClams1.htm (turn down your speakers... the music is a little loud & tinny)

Unfortunately, being a native who grew up on the waterfront... I don't like clams!

I was just being a bit melodramatic, Piffka, with the Tom Bones reference. It is a lovely day. Seeing that Frost show last night leads to somber thoughts, I fear!

Good. I was going to have start digging through my collection to find some cheery poetry. And to find cheery GOOD poetry... well, that's hard!

If anyone is still interested in how the New York Knicks got their name, the team's website offers an explanation at:

http://www.nba.com/knicks/history/why_knickerbockers.html

The explanation doesn't mention Washington Irving, saying only "Through history, the Dutch settler "Knickerbocker" character became synonymous with New York City." The connection between Irving and the use of the name "Knickerbocker" to mean anything "New York", can be found in this excerpt from a biography of Irving at www.online-literature.com/irving

"In 1809 appeared Irving's comic history of the Dutch regime in New York, A HISTORY OF NEW YORK, by the imaginary 'Dietrich Knickerbocker', who was supposed to be an eccentric Dutch-American scholar. The name Knickerbocker was later used to identify the first American school of writers, the Knickerbocker Group, of which Irving was a leading figure. The book became part of New York folklore, and eventually the word Knickerbocker was also used to describe any New Yorker who could trace one's family to the original Dutch settlers."

Isn't the Internet wonderful?

My high school librarian was named --well, I dunno his first name -- but we called him Mr. Knickerbocker. It has given me an unfortunate image of a tall but shapeless man with colorless hair and a high-pitched voice constantly fussing with books as though he didn't know what to do with his hands & giving stern looks to otherwise happy students. Does this sound like Ichabod Crane???

He did have a nice family, I remember. I wonder, is this the reason I was not entranced with New York when young as most people are???

Thanks for the links, Bree. Yes, the internet is a wonder!

Well, I've been enjoying those links, Bree. Then I moved on to:

http://www.4literature.net/Washington_Irving/Christmas_Eve/

a website which had the whole of the short story, really just a vignette of a country Christmas. It began with this short poem, which I think is by Irving.

CHRISTMAS EVE -

Saint Francis and Saint Benedight
Blesse this house from wicked wight;

From the night-mare and the goblin,
That is hight good fellow Robin;

Keep it from all evil spirits,
Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets:

From curfew time
To the next prime.

..............

I'm not sure what hight means -- I know in German "Ich heisse" means "I'm named" so maybe it means the Goblin named Robin.

Piffka
I got it but I forgot to