I took your news outdoors, and strolled a while
In silence on my square of garden-ground
Where I could dim the roar of arguments,
Ignore the scandal-flywheel whirring round,
And hear instead the green fuse in the flower
Ignite, the breeze stretch out a shadow-hand
To ruffle blossom on its sticking points,
The blackbirds sing, and singing take their stand.
I took your news outdoors, and found the Spring
Had honoured all its promises to start
Disclosing how the principles of earth
Can make a common purpose with the heart.
The heart which slips and sidles like a stream
Weighed down by winter-wreckage near its source -
But given time, and come the clearing rain,
Breaks loose to revel in its proper course.
The poet laureate has a motion.
Makes you proud, doesn't it?
Second last line should read:-
The poet laureate is A.Motion. (Andrew Motion)
I must have had one of those fraudulent slips.
Re: Spring Wedding
April 9 2005, 6:07 PM
The relevence of this is?
Oliver
Re: Spring Wedding
April 10 2005, 7:27 AM
Being a gentleman by nature, I feel constrained to reply to your question pertaining to the relevance of the above. I am also an autocrat and rather beastly at times. I resent your impudence.
Your question relates to the broader field of inferential pragmatics.
The object of inferential pragmatics is to provide an explanation of how the hearer infers the speaker's meaning based on the evidence provided.
The relevance-theoretic account is based on the assertion that utterances automatically create expectations that guide the hearer towards the speaker's meaning.
These expectations are described in terms of a Co-operative Principle and maxims of Quality, Quantity, Relation and Manner which speakers are expected to observe. The interpretation a rational hearer should choose is the one that best satisfies those expectations.
Therefore, as you can see, it all boils down to expectations. It is well known that autocrats are not necessarily obliged to live up to other's expectations. (I do enjoy being beastly).
If you wish to pursue this matter, I suggest that reading the following may be advantageous to you.
Anderson, A.R. and N.D. Belnap, Jr. (1975) Entailment: The Logic of Relevance and Necessity, Princeton University Press, Vol I & Vol II.