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Wed 12 Aug, 2015 01:47 pm
Why not "A new genesis was here"?
Plus, "Knew they" means "if they knew"?
Context:
Nature centres into balls,
And her proud ephemerals,
Fast to surface and outside,
Scan the profile of the sphere;
Knew they what that signified,
A new genesis were here.
@oristarA,
Quote:Knew they what that signified,
A new genesis were here.
That means "If they knew what that signified, a new genesis would be here".
So it's a subjunctive. "Were" is correct.
Poetry need not obey rules of grammar; this is poetry; 'were' is OK therefore; 'knew they' means 'they knew'.
It's from Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay, 'Circles', by the way. Ori, why do you never attribute?
@Tes yeux noirs,
Tes yeux noirs wrote:
Poetry need not obey rules of grammar; this is poetry; 'were' is OK therefore; 'knew they' means 'they knew'.
It's from Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay, 'Circles', by the way. Ori, why do you never attribute?
Thanks.
Time to attribute seriously.
A newbie of English failed to get the whole of what he read. So he asked questions here and there, not mindful of whom the authors were. And the habit continued even when he's no longer a newbie.
TYN is wrong, the use of were is not ungrammatical. One can only assume that he did not read McT's response.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
TYN is wrong, the use of were is not ungrammatical. One can only assume that he did not read McT's response.
But this way of answering is still helpful. Because I know therefore I was not alone in such grammatical understanding.
@McTag,
Meaning "it is done, it is good"?
@oristarA,
Meaning, he's got a hellova sense of humour for a foreigner.
@McTag,
McTag wrote:
Meaning, he's got a hellova sense of humour for a foreigner.
helluva sense of humour? Does it refer to "terrific sense of humour"?
@oristarA,
It does.
Probably unwitting in this case, but yes. ( a hellova = a hell of a .....)
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