[Milton-L] Poetry Daily (liquidae and mutae)

[John Geraghty]

I'm not sure how far to take this, but may be an interesting topic to pursue
further.

"In the technical vocabulary of the Roman grammarians the consonants p, t,
C, K, q, b, d, g were called mutae mute and the consonants l, m, n, r
liquidae liquid."
http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin/Grammar/Latin-Pronunciation-Syllable-
Accent.html

The "liquid" consonants are better suited for Milton's "melodious" poetry. 

I think its interesting that the onomatopoeic consonants in "cuckoo" (which
Milton hopes will remain MUTE this year) are c and k (mutae).  

Come with all thy shining blooms, 
Thy rich red rose and rolling glooms. 
Though the cuckoo doth but sing 'cuk, cuk,' 
And the dove alone doth coo; 
Though the cushat spins her coo-r-roo, r-r-roo - 
To the cuckoo's halting 'cuk.'
 -George Meredith
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:ZzsXUZ5MBLkJ:www.worldwideschool.org/lib
rary/books/lit/poetry/PoemsMeredithVolumeI/chap5.html+mute+cuckoo+poetry&hl=
en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

Perhaps there is something worth exploring in musical or poetic theory in
this context. 


-John

 





-----Original Message-----
From: milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu
[mailto:milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu] On Behalf Of Harold Skulsky
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 7:52 PM
To: John Milton Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Poetry Daily

Come to think of it, the original Latin sense of *liquidus* is "flowing";
the derivative Latin sense is "clear." But the latter sense allows Roman
poets to apply it to sounds, especially to birdsong, as in Lucretius 2.146
"variae volucres liquidis loca vocibus opplent" ("many-colored birds fill
the region with their liquid voices." As others in this thread have argued,
it seems that Milton is following his Roman models in exploiting both
senses--figurative and nonfigurative--at the same time.


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