to Halliteration...Today’s missive
Is brought to you by
The letter H...
With appreciation
To Craig Mod
Via his newsletter,
Roden: Issue 088.
Of all the lessons learned
From my Texas public school
English lexicons,
Those about alliteration
Captured my imagination
With the most immediate
And ever-lasting glue.
Just think:
Here is a form of writing
That we best observe,
Understand,
And even enjoy
When we read it aloud.
Its history goes back
To Old English epic poetry
Like Beowulf
And Middle English ones
Like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight…
Which Robin Sloan…
As has often been his
New Year’s Day wont…
Will again read aloud to us all
Live today at 1:00 pm ET.
Alliteration was first identified
By Giovanni Potano
In the 15th century,
The word comes from
The Latin word littera,
Which translates as
Letter of the alphabet.
The form found its foothold
In Old High German,
Old Saxon and Old Irish…
Not to mention it apparently
Had roots in classical Latin,
Greek, and Sanskrit poetry.
Today, so Wikipedia says,
Alliteration is used poetically
In many languages
Including English, Arabic, Irish,
German, Mongolian, Hungarian,
Somali, Finnish, Icelandic,
And…
American Sign Language!!!
Just think:
A form of writing
That we best observe,
Understand,
And even enjoy
When we read it aloud…
Being observed,
Understood,
And even enjoyed
By people who
Cannot hear it.
I am
Astonished,
Awed, and even
Amused..
And I do adore
And appreciate
The letter A…
Therefore, I hereby Appoint
The letter A
As host of
The Advent of
A year of Alliteration.
I invite you to Activate
Your own Alleritations list.
One letter to sponsor
Each fortnight:
I suggest
At least three words:
One noun
Modified by
Two adjectives
Like beautiful blue bubbles.
But you can decide which
Three words…
Just make a list of
As many words
As you want
For each letter
Starting today
And proceeding every-other
Monday throughout this year.
I’ve made a little PDF list
Just to make it easier
For us all to be
On the same page…
In the same position…
With the same paddle.
At this time next year,
If you’re so inclined,
I invite you to initial your page
And scan it and send it back to me…
I promise to read your words aloud.
...
Today’s image is from my grandson Jackson, taken on his recent trip to Portugal. He reports: this is Lagos, early morning... absolutely gorgeous beaches with a lovely boardwalk that takes you along the coast… crystal clear water that was perfect for floating in.
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course
