H04076 SEASONAL FROLICS COMPETITION- 12/03/04 - HARDY FORUM ARCHIVES
From: ?Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: A NOT-SO SHORT NOTICE/ Number 3
Date: December 3, 2004 7:02:46 AM PST
Greetings All--
This is the third, today, of three notices -- and it is the fun one!
This is the time of year for TTHA's Seasonal Frolics and we have decided to offers prizes for the best limerick on a Hardy theme.
Closing date will be New Year's Day (2005) .
Prizes offered are: choice of a TTHA publication or a video of "Wessex" (US viewing only)
Cheers,
Rosemarie
TIPS for Non-English Majors
A limerick is a form of humorous verse popularised by Edward Lear in the nineteenth-century. Its form is fairly simple -- a five-line stanza built on two rhymes (aabba) with the 3rd and 4th lines one beat shorter than the other three.
Here is a Lear example:
There was a young lady whose chin
Resembled the point of a pin;
So she had it made sharp
And purchased a harp,
And played several tunes with her chin.
The next is Anon - and shows how you can wittily violate the language (bear in mind that the English pronunciation of "Warwick" is "worrick"):
There was a young lady of Warwick,
Who lived in a castle histarwick,
On the damp caste mould
She contracted a could,
And the doctor prescribed paregarwick,
And finally -- (Anon) here is an example of the slightly salacious sort:
There was a young virgin name Wilde,
Who kept herself quite undefiled,
By thinking of Jesus,
Contagious diseases,
And the bother of having a child.
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From: harrybatt@mn.rr.com
Subject: The Distracted Preacher limerick
Date: December 3, 2004 9:20:55 AM PST
Rosemarie: From one of my favorite Hardy short stories, "The Distracted
Preacher."
John Bridell,
Minneapolis.
There once was a preacher distracted
Who obeyed every law as enacted
But, his love by bold chance
Smuggled brandy from France
And the preacher was quite flabbergasted!
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From: schweikr@localnet.com
Subject: Limericks
Date: December 3, 2004 12:06:43 PM PST
A trio of plot summaries in the form of
limericks (with some liberties in the
anapests):
A bouncing young maiden named Tess
Took a nap in her gossamer dress,
But when things became phallic
In the shape of young Alec,
Was it yes or duress? I can't guess.
An innocent mason named Jude
Had for study a great aptitude.
But when this poor fella
Met up with Arabella,
We see etude get screwed by pulchritude.
Though on baptism her views were most obdurate,
Paula's penchant for sex was quite moderate,
Yet despite sneaky Dare,
And the deStancy affair,
'Twas with Somerset she finally did opt for it.
Bob Schweik
Robert Schweik
University Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus
Department of English
State University of New York
Fredonia, NY 14063
USA
schweik@fredonia.edu
schweikr@localnet.com
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From: Charles.Anesi@wellsfargo.com
Subject: RE: Limericks
Date: December 3, 2004 12:29:05 PM PST
Amazing. My entry is mediocre in comparison...
With Jude Hardy broke many a rule
And they called him a rake and a fool
They'd have given him slack
If he'd been a mere hack
Had he gone to a much better school.
Chuck Anesi
Charles.Anesi@wellsfargo.com
office 480-575-3478
cell 612-940-3345
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From: schweikr@localnet.com
Subject: Re: Limericks
Date: December 3, 2004 6:11:04 PM PST
Dear Rosemarie,
Thanks! Of course I *didn't* forget I'm not eligible.
I just want to take part in the fun of the thing.
Best,
Bob
_______________
At 03:29 PM 12/3/2004 -0500, you wrote:
Dear Bob-- your contribution is wonderful -- thank you so much.
Unfortunately, as a TTHA officer you are not eligible .
But I'm glad you forgot this because your trio of limericks is hilarious!
Best
Rosemarie
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From: gary.alderson@btinternet.com
Subject: Limericks...
Date: December 4, 2004 10:32:42 AM PST
There once was a Dorsetshire fellow
Who carolled all night on the 'cello
His extremities froze
He lost three of his toes
'cos the cider had made him so mellow.
Gary Alderson
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From: hardycor@owl.csusm.edu
Subject: A Limerick
Date: December 4, 2004 11:14:44 AM PST
A canine of doubtful repute
Was called Wessex--a touchy old brute,
If you gave him a pat
He'd take umbrage at that,
Snapping back with a snarl on his snoot.
I know Rosemarie, I'm not eligible, but, like Bob, I just wanted to be in
the fun of the thing!
Betty
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From: segr@segr-music.net
Subject: A Limerick-And a Warning!
Date: December 4, 2004 2:13:33 PM PST
If one aimed to be named "magisterial"
When one pounced on old Hardy's material
As an endless supply
That would never run dry
Take my tip! Ones ideas are ethereal.
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From: michael@perceptivecreation.co.uk
Subject: Re: limericks
Date: December 6, 2004 7:14:35 PM PST
I must admit I find these seasonal frivolities enticingly seductive! As I'm
in the middle of trying to get a theatre tour of Mayor together, I've
plumped for that:
A sozzled hay-trusser 'strook dumb'
Sold his Sue to a sailor for a sum
The results of his sin
Were few kith and no kin
And twenty-one years off the rum.
Best wishes
Michael Barry
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From: kellyg@prodigy.net.mx
Subject: Re: limericks
Date: December 7, 2004 12:01:36 PM PST
Hardy's channeled through R. Nemesvari
Through the Morgans both Bill and Rosemarie
Through Niemeyer and Schweik he
Lives on in our psyche
Through Cortus and Buckle and Barry.
Kelly Arthur Garrett
Mexico City
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From: NHardyboy@aol.com
Subject: Re: limericks
Date: December 7, 2004 2:30:53 PM PST
Wow--flattering indeed! I don't think my name has been used in a poem that an angry student didn't post on a men's room wall! Immortality is mine. . .
Paul Niemeyer
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From: rnemesva@stfx.ca
Subject: RE: limericks
Date: December 8, 2004 6:40:42 AM PST
Thanks to Kelly for using my name in the first line of his very funny limerick. I never before realized the possibilities for scansion in a moniker which, for the most part, usually garners me nothing but puzzled and/or disbelieving looks whenever I'm forced to say it out loud.
And thanks also to everyone who responded to my disgruntled (ant-like?) posting about Maugham and Hardy. I think I'll take Bob's advice and fire something off to the NYRB, just as soon as I grade a few more essays! It's unlikely they'll print it, but a second opportunity to "vent" should just about settle me down.
Richard Nemesvari
Department of English
St. Francis Xavier University
rnemesva@stfx.ca
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: Last Call For Limericks:
Date: December 14, 2004 5:35:30 AM PST
Hi - Folks-- This is the Last Call For *Seasonal Frolics* Limericks. The Prizewinner will be chosen by TTHA's Editorial Board at the beginning of January.
Cheers,
Rosemarie
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From: michael@perceptivecreation.co.uk
Subject: Re: Last Call For Limericks:
Date: December 14, 2004 4:23:45 PM PST
Lay in bed longer than usual this morning - and allowed a loud muse to amuse
me - and enable me to respond to the Last Call, (the Final Trumpet Major?) -
thusly:
Nubile but poor Ethelberta
Refused to let men ever hurt her;
Won Society's glories
By telling tall stories
Then allowed an old Lord to unskirt her.
Ah well - budgets next!
Michael Barry
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From: ann.whitlock282@btinternet.com
Subject: Re: Last Call For Limericks:
Date: December 15, 2004 11:19:17 PM PST
A last minute thought -
A modest young milkmaid named Tess
To her bridegroom a sin did confess
Her proud husband grew wild
When he learned of her child
And decreed they must part, more or less.
Ann Whitlock
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From: edavis149@comcast.net
Subject: A limerick
Date: December 16, 2004 7:32:03 AM PST
Here's a spur-of-the-moment entry.
At a fair Mike and Susan ate furmity
While he secretly fed his infirmity.
Then he sold off his wife,
Fashioned a grand new life
'Til his past came out in a skimmity.
All the best and happy holidays to all,
Gene Davis
gdav@purdue.edu
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From: tomlessup@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Last Call For Limericks:
Date: December 16, 2004 7:35:02 AM PST
"The Dynasts"...or Everything but the kitchen sink
It majestically rolls to a climax
Through ten years, three parts, nineteen acts,
Innumerable beings
In innumerable scenes
And a tolerable fidelity to facts.
Seasons' greetings!
Thos
tomlessup@hotmail.com
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From: m.hemming@perpetuitygroup.com
Subject: A limerick
Date: December 16, 2004 3:01:44 PM PST
Arabella the crude captured Jude,
And her company rude, Jude eschewed.
But his life in the city
With Sue ... pretty ... witty,
Was a story condemned as too lewd
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: A limerick
Date: December 16, 2004 7:25:31 PM PST
Hi Folks--
Given the Soaring Success of this year's Seasonal Frolics Competition (Limericks) I shall propose to TTHA's Editorial Board that we nominate two contenders for each of the First, Second and Third places (that is, six prizes in all).
( h m m m . . Judging this contest might be the greatest challenge of our literary career!)
Happy Holidays!
Rosemarie
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From: dcorney@westnet.com.au
Subject: A Limerick
Date: December 17, 2004 5:40:47 PM PST
Dear Rosemarie,
I wish you hadn't started this. I wake at night with stupid rhymes coursing through my brain. Anyway here are two for consideration:
Though Hardy's vision of life was ironic
And some of his themes were Byronic,
About a world ruled by Chance
And crass happenstance,
He wrote numbers of works quite iconic.
To Hardy the world seemed a joke,
For him, circumstances were merely cloak
To make thou and me
Think how important we be,
When life really was all just thin smoke.
Regards,
David Cornelius
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From: erb@segr.demon.co.uk
Subject: RE: A Limerick
Date: December 18, 2004 5:22:55 AM PST
Well if that's the case there should be no
harm in having one more try?
Multiple entendres notwithstanding,
here goes.
There was once an importunate he-male
Tried his luck with a difficult fe-male.
But she said 'Sorry mate you're already too late:
'And you cannot get round me by e-mail!'
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From: fsiedow@omniglobal.net
Subject: Re: A Limerick
Date: December 19, 2004 4:35:17 PM PST
Dear Rosemarie Morgan : "Though I'm just a newbie to T.H. and this group, I thought I'd give it a try. So, here's my 1st poem, a limerick -- never thought I could do it!
To Me, this Tom Hardy is brand new,
Both He, Emma, Jude, Tess, and Florence;
Barbara Owen, and Max Gate
Are just Myst'ries, just can't wait --
So, now, I read onward, with patience.
Thanks for listening: Fred Siedow, So. central Texas
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Resent-From: HARDY-L@csusm.edu
From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: Competition Closed. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Date: December 31, 2004 2:33:52 PM PST
To: HARDY-L@csusm.edu
Reply-To: HARDY-L@csusm.edu
Greetings All:
Just to announce that our Limericks competition is now closed.
Back again in 2005.
__________________
HAPPY NEW YEAR?
Here is one of Hardy's happier New Year's Eves -- or so it appears in his cheerful letter to the great painter, W. P. Frith.
Max Gate | Dorchester. | New Year's Eve. | 1888
Dear Mr Frith,
I must just send you a line to wish you a happy new year, & to thank you for the very handsome way in which you have mentioned me in the Reminiscences. It has led me to think of the time when I first heard your name: one fine afternoon in May, many years ago now (terribly many, indeed!) on an occasion when I strolled into the old Academy rooms in Trafalgar Square & saw a crowd round a picture, which crowd I naturally joined -- & learnt from a friend who had accompanied me all that he could tell me of this renowned painter of the Derby Day. My last thought then was that I should ever be known to you personally! With kind regards believe me
Yours very truly
Thomas Hardy.
_________________________
(Letters, Purdy & Millgate, v1.183)
Note says that TH is warmly praised in the final pages of Frith's *My Autobiography and Reminiscences*, vol. III (London, 1888). Derby Day: one of Frith's most famous paintings, first hung in 1858.
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