Very good point! I can't help feeling that a stroll through the fen country
would clear it all up, though, alas, I've never been there. Years and years
ago there was a droll poetess from rural Oxfordshire on British TV (whose
name I don't recall) who would have made short work of all this
controversy. Another is:
Come live with me and be my love
And we shall all the pleasures prove.
Though I suspect that we English speakers are less concerned with the
length of a vowel than speakers of other languages. john
>I was wondering was how you came to the decision that it was the
>last syllable of "symmetry" that had changed its pronunciation since
>then, rather than the vowel on "eye"? I don't know which it was. Do you
>see a couple of Olde Englishmen in a tavern poring over some diagram and
>saying "there's a certain symmeTRYE about this"?
>
>Yes, it is interesting. There are lots of pairs of words which look from
>their context as though they should rhyme, and one wonders which one has
>changed since then. In the madrigal "All creatures no" there are three
>such pairs:
>
> All creatures now are merry MINDED
> The shepherds' daughters PLAYING
> The nymphs are FA-LA-LA-ING
> Yond bugle was well WINDED
> At Oriana's presence each thing smileth
> The flowers themselves DISCOVER
> Birds over her do HOVER
> Music the time beguileth
> See where she comes with flow'ry garlands crown-ed
> Queen of all queens renown-ed
> Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana
> Long live fair Oriana!
>
>Last time we did this we sang winded to rhyme with minded, fa-la-laying
>(much coarse laughter there from one or two lads...) and left discover
>and hover to fend for themselves, after some wit had suggested discoover
>and hoover.
>
>cheers,
>
>Linda
At 12:08 AM 10/28/00 +0100, you wrote:
>John Alexander Blyth wrote:
>
><snip (anaesthetic optional) some interesting observations>
>
>
>
>> I don't know if Blake was a Cockney, but I'm fairly sure that oye and
>> symmetroy, or ei and symmetrei (or ee and symmetree) were perfectly decent
>> rhymes to him.
>
>What
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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