Yesterday, I talked about a poem which Emily Dickinson altered when she learned of the death of a friend, and I compared that to Elton John’s re-write of “Candle in the Wind,” a song about Marilyn Monroe, to “Goodbye England’s Rose,” a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales.
When I explored John’s re-write of “Candle in the Wind,” I came across a word that I was not familiar with; Wikipedia described the song as a “threnody-style ballad.”
Threnody? What the heck is a threnody?
Here’s what I posted yesterday:
Evidently, a threnody is a wailing ode or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word θρηνῳδία (threnoidia), from θρῆνος (threnos, "wailing") and ᾠδή (oide, "ode"); oddly, enough, though the OED site states, “The earliest known use of the verb threnody is in the 1890s. OED's only evidence for threnody is from 1893, in the writing of Grant Allen, writer on science and novelist.”
Of course, that made me wonder, “Did Emily Dickinson ever use the word ‘threnody’?”
I assumed the answer was “no,” since the OED claimed the “earliest known use” of the word was in 1893, and Dickinson died in 1886; however, I checked the online Dickinson archive, and lo and behold – she did, indeed, use the word in one poem, “”You’ll know her by her foot,” a riddle-poem about a robin written in 1863 – AND – it shows up only in one version of the poem (the line is “Such Threnodies of Pearl”; however, most editions print the line as “Such Arguments of Pearl”).
When I explored John’s re-write of “Candle in the Wind,” I came across a word that I was not familiar with; Wikipedia described the song as a “threnody-style ballad.”
Threnody? What the heck is a threnody?
Here’s what I posted yesterday:
Evidently, a threnody is a wailing ode or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word θρηνῳδία (threnoidia), from θρῆνος (threnos, "wailing") and ᾠδή (oide, "ode"); oddly, enough, though the OED site states, “The earliest known use of the verb threnody is in the 1890s. OED's only evidence for threnody is from 1893, in the writing of Grant Allen, writer on science and novelist.”
Of course, that made me wonder, “Did Emily Dickinson ever use the word ‘threnody’?”
I assumed the answer was “no,” since the OED claimed the “earliest known use” of the word was in 1893, and Dickinson died in 1886; however, I checked the online Dickinson archive, and lo and behold – she did, indeed, use the word in one poem, “”You’ll know her by her foot,” a riddle-poem about a robin written in 1863 – AND – it shows up only in one version of the poem (the line is “Such Threnodies of Pearl”; however, most editions print the line as “Such Arguments of Pearl”).
So back to the conflicting dates: How could that be?
I was about to contact the OED, but then I realized that the info on my screen was related to the verb “threnody,” not the noun “threnody.” I looked up the noun, and evidently, it dates back to the 1600s.
I told my wife about this, and she explored the word a bit more and found this:
"’Threnody’ is a noun, not a verb—it specifically refers to a song, poem, or speech of mourning, especially for the dead. It can’t be used as a verb in standard English.
However, if you're working in a poetic, experimental, or fictional context and want to verbify it (which writers sometimes do for stylistic effect), you could create a sentence like this:
‘She threnodied beneath the twilight, her voice a lament carried by the wind.’
This usage is nonstandard but could work in creative writing to evoke a somber, lyrical tone.”
Before I close, let me add that in Dickinson’s poem “You’ll know her by her foot,” there was yet another word with which I was unfamiliar: “Gamboge.”
I’ll talk about that tomorrow.
I was about to contact the OED, but then I realized that the info on my screen was related to the verb “threnody,” not the noun “threnody.” I looked up the noun, and evidently, it dates back to the 1600s.
I told my wife about this, and she explored the word a bit more and found this:
"’Threnody’ is a noun, not a verb—it specifically refers to a song, poem, or speech of mourning, especially for the dead. It can’t be used as a verb in standard English.
However, if you're working in a poetic, experimental, or fictional context and want to verbify it (which writers sometimes do for stylistic effect), you could create a sentence like this:
‘She threnodied beneath the twilight, her voice a lament carried by the wind.’
This usage is nonstandard but could work in creative writing to evoke a somber, lyrical tone.”
Before I close, let me add that in Dickinson’s poem “You’ll know her by her foot,” there was yet another word with which I was unfamiliar: “Gamboge.”
I’ll talk about that tomorrow.
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