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Who is this guy?

 
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All text is in Russian but there is portrait and other clues...
 
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That's W.B. Yeats - Irish poet. Probably best known for "The Second Coming," "Sailing to Byzantium," "Easter, 1916," and other heart-warming ditties of the early 20th century.
 
Mapraputa Is
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That was a little too fast... Did you recognize him on the picture?
I expected most folk to google "william butler" which is a part of URL

[This message has been edited by Mapraputa Is (edited December 29, 2001).]
 
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As soon as I saw the William Butler I knew it was W.B. Yeats. I am well read especially with my Irish poets.
 
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I once had to memorize a Yeats poem in school. God I hate poetry.
 
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I am not a fan of poetry. I don't even enjoy many. But here's one which I keep reciting to all. "The Road not taken" by Robert Frost.
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1645
Later,
Hema
 
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You can find Yeats' best-known poem here. You might, however, need to do a bit of work to read it...
[ January 07, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]
 
Mapraputa Is
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Oh, I forgot about it... So this thread is Yeats' second coming on the Ranch?
 
Michael Ernest
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A long time ago I wanted to propose we change 'Meanngless Drivel' to 'The Widening Gyre' but I figured that reference would be lost more people. Appropriate, though.
 
Mapraputa Is
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What can one expect from the guy who named his company "Inkling"...
[This message has been edited by Mapraputa Is (edited December 30, 2001).]
 
Mapraputa Is
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A long time ago I wanted to ask: Michael, was your "Inkling" named after Tolkien's Inklings?
 
Michael Ernest
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Yes it was, as a matter of fact. Bravo.
 
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It's an amazing word. I looked up it in American Heritage dictionary and here it is (sorry for typography ):
WORD HISTORY: One of the more fascinating journeys in the histories of words is the one that links nest and inkling. We begin this journey with the Indo-European root nizdo-, which by way of Germanic �nist- will give us nest but also leads to Latin nºdus, “nest.” From Latin nºdus may come Old French (and modern French) niche, meaning “niche.” It is possible that in Old French a variant form existed that was borrowed into Middle English as nik, meaning “a notch, tally.” This word seems related to the Middle English word nikken, which may mean “to mark a text for correction,” and nikking, “a hint, slight indication,” or possibly “a whisper, mention.” The word nikking appears only once, in a Middle English text composed around 1400, as does the word ningkiling, found in another copy of the same text. It is possible that ningkiling is from nikking. Furthermore, it is probable that people divided a ninkling incorrectly and got an inkling, just as they did with a napron, getting an apron. If all this has indeed happened, inkling has come a long way from the nest.
A word that means "A slight hint or indication", "A slight understanding or vague idea or notion" and also "nest" and "niche"!
 
Mapraputa Is
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I think, I should say it... I am still recovering... When Jim posted a link to enciphered Yeats and Michael guessed which poem it is ("A long time ago I wanted to propose we change 'Meanngless Drivel' to 'The Widening Gyre'...") I wondered how he did it.
To save you a click, here is the text.
[|yupun'huk'{|yupun'pu'{ol'~pklupun'n?yl
[ol'mhsjvu'jhuuv{'olhy'{ol'mhsjvuly
[opunz'mhss'hwhy{3{ol'jlu{yl'jhuuv{'ovsk
Tlyl'huhyjo?'pz'svvzlk'|wvu'{ol'~vysk
[ol'isvvk4kpttlk'{pkl'pz'svvzlk3'huk'l}ly?~olyl
[ol'jlyltvu?'vm'puuvjlujl'pz'kyv~ulk
[ol'ilz{'shjr'hss'jvu}pj{pvuz3'~opsl'{ol'~vyz{
Hyl'm|ss'vm'whzzpvuh{l'pu{luzp{?5
Z|yls?'zvtl'yl}lsh{pvu'pz'h{'ohuk
Z|yls?'{ol'Zljvuk'Jvtpun'pz'h{'ohuk
[ol'Zljvuk'Jvtpun('Ohyks?'hyl'{ovzl'~vykz'v|{
^olu'h'}hz{'pthnl'v|{'vm'Zwpyp{|z'T|ukp
[yv|islz't?'zpno{A'zvtl~olyl'pu'zhukz'vm'{ol'klzly{
H'zohwl'~p{o'spvu'ivk?'huk'{ol'olhk'vm'h'thu
H'nh?l'ishur'huk'wp{pslzz'hz'{ol'z|u
Pz'tv}pun'p{z'zsv~'{opnoz3'~opsl'hss'hiv|{'p{
Ylls'zohkv~z'vm'{ol'pukpnuhu{'klzly{'ipykz5
[ol'khyrulzz'kyvwz'hnhpuB'i|{'uv~'P'ruv~
[oh{'{~lu{?'jlu{|yplz'vm'z{vu?'zsllw
^lyl'}llk'{v'upno{thyl'i?'h'yvjrpun'jyhksl3
Huk'~oh{'yv|no'ilhz{3'p{z'ov|y'jvtl'yv|uk'h{'shz{3
Zsv|jolz'{v~hykz'Il{oslolt'{v'il'ivyu

From what I knew about Michael it was unlikely that he diligently deciphered the text, so I E-mailed him and asked whose clues helped: Jim's or mine. He answered: "I recognized the poem by its shape, sweetie!"
[ January 07, 2002: Message edited by: Mapraputa Is ]
 
Jim Yingst
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Errr... wasn't the poem pretty much already identified by our comments? It might've been a bit subtle in the original thread, but when someone points to it later and says it's "Yeats' best-known poem", and "the second coming" appears twice in subsequent comments, there isn't much room for doubt. :roll: I submit that Michael may have confirmed this by comparing shapes. Assuming he felt it necessary to register a "guess" at all for what was fairly obvious at that point - I took his comment as simply a continuation of the conversation.
So, Michael - how did you go from the "Inkling" reference to becoming "Bored of the Rings"? (And yes, Map, the latter is also a reference. Or rather, a reference to a reference to a reference. Or something like that.)
 
Michael Ernest
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That whole id thing evolved a little differently. Map had asked how I knew what it was when I went to the page, not after all the hints that are dead giveaways to a grad lit student.
I have an interest in the Inklings group, which offers some informing principles to its member's writings. It was not as much like, say, the Bloomsbury Group, which met to discuss and promote each other's work. So I don't identify Inkling as something closely tied to Tolkien's body of work, or C. S. Lewis' for that matter.
The elements of Tolkien's stories that interest me have little to do with the stuff that's going to sell popcorn: dragons, cool settings, mystical races, wild names and other stuff that evolves into the fantasy literature genre and D&D stuff that got big in the 70's and kept growing.
Tolkien up until the late 60's was largely disregarded for reasons the Inklings banded in the first place. To say more on that point, I'll need a podium and your notes from the registrar showing fees paid in full.
[ January 07, 2002: Message edited by: Michael Ernest ]
 
Mapraputa Is
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Thanks, Jim! I did not know "Bored of the Rings" was a reference...
Ok, my intensive investigations has shown that
1. Michael's "Bored of the Rings" is a reference to Harvard Lampoon's book "Bored of the Rings"
2. Harvard Lampoon's book is, naturally, a reference to "Lord of the Rings"
3. This gives us a reference to a reference to a referee, not to another reference as Jim said
4. Did I miss something?
 
Jim Yingst
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> Did I miss something?
I was referencing Michael's post.
 
Mapraputa Is
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Jim, you are so skeptical...
I can easily believe Michael recognized "The Second Coming" in
[|yupun'huk'{|yupun'pu'{ol'~pklupun'n?yl
[ol'mhsjvu'jhuuv{'olhy'{ol'mhsjvuly...
Take a look at this his Amazon review...
I am thinking about writing "Michael Ernest for Beginners" book. Do you want to be a co-author? Then here is a challenge for you.
Michael's post in this thread
What is the target of his parody?
 
Jim Yingst
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> Jim, you are so skeptical...
Yup. Actually I don't doubt that Mike has impressive abilities to recognize obscure references with limited data - but such abilities hardly seem necessary here. Recognizing Yeats' picture was impressive - recognizing TSC, given that he'd already demonstrated knowledge of it, seems like child's play.
> Map had asked how I knew what it was when I
> went to the page, not after all the hints that
> are dead giveaways to a grad lit student.
Well, you would have at least read my "Yeats' best-known poem" comment before following the link to get to the page, right? So OK, you may not have been sure which poem I think is his best known - but there aren't that many candidates; you've already listed them. If at that point you recognized the structure, that's impressive, true. Personally, I certainly wouldn't have recognized a poem just from its structure. But TSC was an obvious candidate, and I would've had my suspicions confirmed immediately thereafter by the subsequent comments. I would've considered it a non-issue though up until Map's query arrived indicating she thought it something amazing - at that point I would probably have made up some story about how I'd arrived at my "conclusion", just to mess with Map's head. So my skepticism in this case derives from knowing my own unscrupulous behavior, and assuming others would do the same. Sorry 'bout that.
> Take a look at this his Amazon review...
Oh, dear. Mike, it looks like you've got a cyberstalker on your hands here. :roll:
> I am thinking about writing "Michael Ernest for
> Beginners" book. Do you want to be a co-author?
How about if I just handle the errata?
> What is the target of his parody?
Dunno. I've never had much interest in most poetry - Yeats' TSC is one of a small handful which I actually like and recognize. If Mike's parodying another work here, it's one that's outside that select group.
> To say more on that point, I'll need a podium
> and your notes from the registrar showing fees
> paid in full.
Would you settle for an attentive audience?
 
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Anyone recognize this poem excerpt: (No googling!)
xx Nightingale xxx xxxx xxxxxx
xxxx xxxxxxx notes xx xxxxx xxxxx
xx xxxxxxxxxx xx xxxx shady xxxxx,
Among xxxxxxx xxxxx:
x xxxxx xx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxx heard
xx spring-time xxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxx,
xxxxxxxx xxx silence xx xxx xxxx
xxxxx xxx farthest xxxxxxxx

[ January 07, 2002: Message edited by: Nanhesru Ningyake ]
 
Michael Ernest
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JY: So my skepticism in this case derives from knowing my own unscrupulous behavior, and assuming others would do the same. Sorry 'bout that.
Not at all. You do what skeptics do. But what might seem impressive can be explained more easily: pattern recognition. It's no different from recognizing buildings by their silhouette, or people by their profile. I happen to have studied poems for a long time, and they have a certain shape on paper. Now if I said I recognized each of Shakespeares sonnets by outline alone, you'd have cause to raise an eyebrow.
MI: I am thinking about writing "Michael Ernest for Beginners" book. Do you want to be a co-author?
JY: How about if I just handle the errata?
That's greedy, saving all the easy work for yourself.
JY: Would you settle for an attentive audience?
Don't I always?
 
Jim Yingst
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> That's greedy, saving all the easy work for yourself.
Absolutely. I'm just talking about Map's errors, of course. I've seen the list for RHE (I have an early print of the first edition), and wouldn't want to volunteer for that job.
 
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Hi Nanhesru,
Is it from "Ode to a Nightangle"..correct me if i am wrong as I remember reading it in my good old days(school)
 
Michael Ernest
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Not too many poets go on about Nightengales that I can think of; the Romantics think that bird is cool. It's not Keats' 'Ode to a Nightengale,' and the no googling hint probably means its on the web somewhere (i.e., worth typing in). So, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley...I'd rule out Shelley on principle.
Shrug; close as I care to get.
 
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Hey, it is The Solitary Reaper - Wordsworth. No nightingale at all!!
 
Nanhesru Ningyake
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That is correct! This was indeed from Wordsworth's poem.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: Nanhesru Ningyake ]
 
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