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Re: Byron on "peacock fan" (of "noble Oriental milieu") (fwd)
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---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 10:07 PM -0700
From: Keith McMullen <keithsz@concentric.net>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Subject: Re: Byron on "peacock fan" (of "noble Oriental milieu")
>>> WHY BYRON?<<<
>>> AND WHY "A VERY NOBLE ORIENTAL MILIEU"? <<<
Don Juan: CANTO THE SEVENTH
--Lord Byron
LXXIV
For every thing seem'd resting on his nod,
As they could read in all eyes. Now to them,
Who were accustom'd, as a sort of god,
To see the sultan, rich in many a gem,
Like an imperial peacock stalk abroad
(That royal bird, whose tail's a diadem),
With all the pomp of power, it was a doubt
How power could condescend to do without.
LXXV
John Johnson, seeing their extreme dismay,
Though little versed in feelings oriental,
Suggested some slight comfort in his way:
Don Juan, who was much more sentimental,
Swore they should see him by the dawn of day,
Or that the Russian army should repent all:
And, strange to say, they found some consolation
In this -- for females like exaggeration.
LXXVI
And then with tears, and sighs, and some slight kisses,
They parted for the present -- these to await,
According to the artillery's hits or misses,
What sages call Chance, Providence, or Fate
(Uncertainty is one of many blisses,
A mortgage on Humanity's estate) --
While their belovéd friends began to arm,
To burn a town which never did them harm.
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
Date: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 10:07 PM -0700
From: Keith McMullen <keithsz@concentric.net>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Subject: Re: Byron on "peacock fan" (of "noble Oriental milieu")
>>> WHY BYRON?<<<
>>> AND WHY "A VERY NOBLE ORIENTAL MILIEU"? <<<
Don Juan: CANTO THE SEVENTH
--Lord Byron
LXXIV
For every thing seem'd resting on his nod,
As they could read in all eyes. Now to them,
Who were accustom'd, as a sort of god,
To see the sultan, rich in many a gem,
Like an imperial peacock stalk abroad
(That royal bird, whose tail's a diadem),
With all the pomp of power, it was a doubt
How power could condescend to do without.
LXXV
John Johnson, seeing their extreme dismay,
Though little versed in feelings oriental,
Suggested some slight comfort in his way:
Don Juan, who was much more sentimental,
Swore they should see him by the dawn of day,
Or that the Russian army should repent all:
And, strange to say, they found some consolation
In this -- for females like exaggeration.
LXXVI
And then with tears, and sighs, and some slight kisses,
They parted for the present -- these to await,
According to the artillery's hits or misses,
What sages call Chance, Providence, or Fate
(Uncertainty is one of many blisses,
A mortgage on Humanity's estate) --
While their belovéd friends began to arm,
To burn a town which never did them harm.
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L