Happy Birthday Lynne Truss

Happy Birthday to Lynne Truss. Who in the world is Lynne Truss? Entertainment Weekly called her “William Safire crossed with Basil Fawlty.” She’s the woman who made punctuation fun and made us laugh while learning something.

Being known where I used to work as something of a grammar nerd, this is a lady after my own heart. Her most famous book here in the U.S. (she’s a Brit) is Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (2003).  As someone who groans and shakes my head every time I see a sign where an apostrophe is used incorrectly (plural instead of possessive and vice versa) I knew the first time I saw this book I had to have it. It lives on the shelf with other books of its ilk by William Safire, Edwin Newman, Richard Lederer, and E.B. White. May I also confess without reprisal that I love puns?

Here's the relevant story of the title explaining why punctuation matters: 

“A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats, it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. ‘Why?’ asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. ‘I’m a panda,’ he says at the door. ‘Look it up.’ The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. ‘Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.’”

A radio host, a columnist, a former sports reporter, and author of plays and mystery novels, Lynne Truss goes far beyond telling us how to format language. She uses it to educate and entertain and make us think. Her 2005 book Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door takes on the state of manners, or the lack thereof. (I wonder what she thinks of the state of incivility in the world now.) She has also published collections of her newspaper columns and radio monologues. Some of her books and CDs are available here and it’s well worth the effort to find them.

Happy Birthday G K Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born on May 29, 1874. A prolific writer, he also gave talks on the radio in the 1930s that were quite popular. The article about him on Wikipedia says, “Chesterton wrote around 80 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories, 4,000 essays (mostly newspaper columns), and several plays. He was a literary and social critic, historian, playwright, novelist, Catholic theologian and apologist, debater, and mystery writer. He was a columnist for the Daily News, The Illustrated London News, and his own paper, G.K.’s Weekly; he also wrote articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica, including the entry on Charles Dickens and part of the entry on Humour.”

Whew! I’m exhausted just reading about everything he did. And all these things were not short knock-off pieces with little thought. He was a deep thinker blessed with wit and humor, and the ability to explain complex concepts in terms easy to follow. His most popular character was Father Brown who solved mysteries and was able to impart moral teaching without being preachy. Other famous books were the novel The Man Who Was Thursday and his non-fiction Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. He wrote poetry and biographies of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas. I can recommend any and all of these, having read them myself.

Although he is best known as a writer, he attended the Slade School of Art to become an illustrator. Many of his sketches show the same humor as his writing. Journalism became his profession and by 1902 he had a weekly column in the Daily News. Chesterton was raised as a Unitarian and became an Anglican in 1901. However, he began writing about and defending the Catholic faith and was received into the Church in 1922. He died in 1936.

Chesterton influenced writers and thinkers from Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen to C. S. Lewis, Jorge Luis Borges, Marshall McLuhan, and Mahatma Gandhi. He inspired Father Ian Boyd to begin the journal The Chesterton Review and Dale Ahlquist to found the American Chesterton Society and help begin the Chesterton Academy in Minneapolis. His legacy lives on as more schools are named for him and contemporary artists – literary and musical – are inspired by him. For more information, check out the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton in the list of Helpful Links at the right. I can only scratch the surface here but it’s worth the time to read more about him and by him. 

 

Trinity Sunday

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity or Trinity Sunday will be on May 30, 2021, this year. It’s the first Sunday after Pentecost, which is fitting because of the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the concept of the Trinity is now complete.

It is said that Saint Patrick used the shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons in one being. The shamrock, or clover, is one sprig with three leaves. Whether St. Patrick used it or not, it is a useful teaching visual.

We find the baptismal formula of the triune God in Matthew 28:19. “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And when we profess the Nicene Creed at Mass each Sunday we include the Father, the Son, and “the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified.”

You may hear your choir sing this hymn on Sunday. It’s been one of my favorites since I was a kid.

Holy God, We Praise Thy Name

Holy God, we praise thy name;

Lord of all, we bow before thee;

All on earth thy scepter claim;

All in heaven above adore thee.

Infinite thy vast domain;

Everlasting is thy reign.

 

Hark the glad celestial hymn

Angel choirs above are raising;

Cherubim and seraphim,

In unceasing chorus praising,

Fill the heavens with sweet accord:

Holy, holy, holy Lord.

 

Holy Father, Holy Son,

Holy Spirit: three we name thee,

Though in essence only one;

Undivided God we claim thee,

And adoring bend the knee

While we own the mystery.

 

 

 

Come, Holy Ghost

Yesterday was the feast of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. The Holy Ghost descended upon the Blessed Mother and the disciples and it was the first time since the Tower of Babel separated us from each other in language that we were able to understand one another – each person heard the Galileans speaking in his language and heard about the glories of God.

Here is a favorite hymn “Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest.” I print the lyrics here and then offer you the choir of St Michael’s in Stillwater, MN with organ and brass. Veni Creator Spiritus.

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,

And in our hearts take up thy rest;

Come with thy grace and heav’nly aid

To fill the hearts which thou hast made,

To fill the hearts which thou hast made.

 

O Comforter, to thee we cry,

Thou heav’nly gift of God most high,

Thou fount of life, and fire of love,

And sweet anointing from above,

And sweet anointing from above.

 

O holy Ghost, through thee alone

Know we the Father and the Son;

Be this our firm unchanging creed,

That thou dost from them both proceed,

That thou dost from them both proceed.

 

Praise we the Lord, Father and Son,

And Holy Spirit with them one;

And may the Son on us bestow

All gifts that from the Spirit flow,

All gifts that from the Spirit flow.

 

Shakespeare's Sonnets: VIII

The harmony within music becomes a lovely metaphor for the harmony of the family. A father, mother, and children become like strings of an instrument, each playing a different note but coming together to produce a beautiful melody. If the music he hears makes him sad, it is because the young man has not experienced family life in his single state. Shakespeare continues encouragement of marriage and family.

Sonnet VIII

 

Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?

Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:

Why lov’st thou that which thou receiv’st not gladly,

Or else receiv’st with pleasure thine annoy?

If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,

By unions married, do offend thine ear,

They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds

In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.

Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,

Strikes each in each by mutual ordering;

Resembling sire and child and happy mother,

Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:

                Whose speechless song being many, seeming one,

                Sings this to thee: ‘Thou single wilt prove none.’

 

Fun with Gilbert & Sullivan

Last week (May 14) was the birthday of Sir Arthur Sullivan. A composer of operas, ballets, choral works, hymns (including “Onward, Christian Soldiers”), songs, chamber music, orchestral pieces, and incidental music to plays, he is probably best known as the collaborator of W.S. Gilbert on 14 comic operas (or operettas as they are sometimes known). Probably the best known today are The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Pirates of Penzance. 

Sullivan studied music from a young age and won several scholarships to study in England and Germany. His collaboration with Gilbert began in 1875 when Richard D’Oyly Carte, an impresario, commissioned them to write a one-act opera (Trial by Jury). It was an instant success and led to them composing eleven other works before their split in 1890. 

D’Oyly Carte also formed the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and built the Savoy Theatre where the Gilbert and Sullivan operas were performed. The D’Olyly Carte Opera Company is probably still the most famous group to sing these operas. In Minneapolis we are fortunate to have The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company who will again be performing live in the spring of 2022. We have seen many of their performances in years past and enjoyed them greatly.

I love all the Gilbert & Sullivan operas, but forced to choose a favorite, I’d have to pick The Pirates of Penzance. Years – and years and years – ago our Junior High School music class mounted a staging of it and I got to be one of the major general's daughters (otherwise known as the women’s chorus). Incredibly fun. 

For a sample selection, I have chosen “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” from the Pirates. As is sometimes done in G&S operas, a few lyrics might be changed to include satire of the day, hence the reference in this clip to Trivial Pursuit a hundred years before it was conceived. Enjoy!

Ascension and Pentecost with Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti, whom we met on this blog back in January, was a devout Christian and used her substantial talent to praise God with her poetry. She wrote poems for almost every church holiday or season. Since last Thursday was Ascension Day and next Sunday is Pentecost (or Whit Sunday as it was called back in the day) we’ll look at her poems for these days.

Ascension Day

“A Cloud received Him out of their sight.”

When Christ went up to Heaven the Apostles stayed
Gazing at Heaven with souls and wills on fire,
Their hearts on flight along the track He made,
Winged by desire.

Their silence spake: “Lord, why not follow Thee?
Home is not home without Thy Blessed Face,
Life is not life. Remember, Lord, and see,
Look back, embrace.

“Earth is one desert waste of banishment,
Life is one long-drawn anguish of decay.
Where Thou wert wont to go we also went:
Why not today?”

Nevertheless a cloud cut off their gaze:
They tarry to build up Jerusalem,
Watching for Him, while thro’ the appointed days
He watches them.

They do His Will, and doing it rejoice,
Patiently glad to spend and to be spent:
Still He speaks to them, still they hear His Voice
And are content.

For as a cloud received Him from their sight,
So with a cloud will He return ere long:
Therefore they stand on guard by day, by night,
Strenuous and strong.

They do, they dare, they beyond seven times seven
Forgive, they cry God’s mighty word aloud:
Yet sometimes haply lift tired eyes to Heaven–
“Is that His cloud?”

Whitsun Day

“When the Day of Pentecost was fully come.”

 

At sound as of rushing wind, and sight as of fire,

Lo! flesh and blood made spirit and fiery flame,

Ambassadors in Christ’s and the Father’s Name,

To woo back a world’s desire.

 

These men chose death for their life and shame for their boast,

For fear courage, for doubt intuition of faith,

Chose love that is strong as death and stronger than death

In the power of the Holy Ghost.