The Reading Room

8:47 AM

@Bookworm Is this on-topic? I couldn't find any definite source for the quote, if it is a quote.

9:02 AM

@Tsundoku did you stutter? :-)

Q: What is an epic and why there is “only one epic in English Language so far”?

I’m quite familiar with novels and stories, if my personal view is concerned I would say that story is just a compact and summarised form of novel. The detailings in novels is, obviously, much more than in a stories. But what is an epic? Is it just a more detailed version of a novel? In my course...

@Randal'Thor I updated my question in order to reply to your comment, is that way of doing things fine or should I do it in some other way. I thought I should clarify why that post doesn’t answer my question.

@Knight Oh, I never suggested your question is a duplicate or the other one answers it. Just linking a related post for interest. I know they're different questions.

By the way, your course textbook has such poor grammar I'm inclined to not take it seriously at all ...

Q: What's meant by "It would be almost irregular, if the clergyman’s son were quite regular"?

10:16 AM

In "The Vampire of the Village" by G. K. Chesterton, Dr. Mulborough was talking to Father Brown about a Great Scandal in their village, while they were going to a village by a train, saying: ‘Oh, even our scandal is on old-established melodramatic lines. Need I say that the clergyman’s son promi...

meaning short-stories g-k-chesterton

1 hour later…

meaning short-stories joseph-conrad

11:29 AM

Q: Passing Hull-Down

In Joseph Conrad's short story Youth: A Narrative, Conrad writes “The night was fine. In the morning a homeward-bound ship passed us hull down,—the first we had seen for months; but we were nearing the land at last, Java Head being about 190 miles off, and nearly due north. " Researching the term

12:23 PM

@Randal'Thor Shouts dramatically, "You shall not omit the [french-literature] tag! That shall not pass!!"

12:56 PM

"Now is the winter of our discount tent": images.rapgenius.com/… (source?)

Q: What is the "hidden something" in Joseph Conrad's: Youth

1:31 PM

In Joseph Conrad's short story Youth: A Narrative, Conrad writes What made them do it—what made them obey me when I, thinking consciously how fine it was, made them drop the bunt of the foresail twice to try and do it better? What? They had no professional reputation—no examples, no praise. It w...

meaning

2:04 PM

@Randal'Thor As my own grammar is not so good, can you let me know some of the mistakes that my course book made?

@Knight "the only epic composed in English Language" -> "the only epic composed in the English language"; "the religious fervour is the Puritans" -> "the religious fervour of the Puritans" (?)

2:17 PM

Thank you

They have given this summary of Milton for the poem “On his being arrived at the age of Twenty Three”

Q: What is "a conical flame with a twisted top" in Youth: A Narrative

2:44 PM

In the below passage sourced from Joseph Conrad's Youth: A Narrative, Conrad describes a "conical flame with a twisted top". What exactly is it? Is this perhaps a flare, although that wouldn't just throw a "circle of light" directly and only onto the sea, but in every direction equally, or a sear...

meaning short-stories joseph-conrad

3:41 PM

@Knight Could you also add the textbook's title and author name(s)?

4:31 PM

@Tsundoku I’m afraid adding it as it will reveal my age, location and few other things. As far as the chat is concerned I can tell you that it 12th Grade book.

4:41 PM

As you’re moderator, you will able to see it.

Q: Bilbo’s song of Eärendil in “The Fellowship of the Ring”

5:10 PM

In The Fellowship of the Ring, the character Bilbo Baggins recites a poem beginning with these lines: Eärendil was a mariner that tarried in Arvernien; he built a boat of timber felled in Nimbrethil to journey in; her sails he wove of silver fair, of silver were her lanterns made, her prow was f...

poetry j-r-r-tolkien the-lord-of-the-rings interpretation

Gareth Rees

@Bookworm I was part-way through composing an answer to this question when it was closed and deleted, so I've re-asked it

5:29 PM

@Bookworm Funny, the Community bot flagged the answer as "excessively long".

I reached the 200 rep cap today, mainly thanks to an answer to a question about Shakespeare.

5:41 PM

@GarethRees Hmm. What do you think about undeleting/reopening/editing the older question and mod-merging yours into it? That would transfer your answers, thus keeping that (presumably - I haven't read them yet) great content, but would enable the original OP to get credit/rep for the question.

On the other hand, someone might make the case that two lengthy answers, one of them long enough to trip an auto-flag, indicates that the question is indeed too broad for SE. I wonder if your question will also attract close-votes (cc @NapoleonWilson @Brahadeesh who VTCed the previous one), or if your presentation and the interpretation tag are enough to convince people it's OK.

Maybe it's not a good use of mod powers to hammer open a closed question and merge another one into it making it un-deletable ... or maybe it's the best way to give everyone appropriate credit for asking/answering. cc @Tsundoku @Gallifreyan ?

Gareth Rees

@Randal'Thor I'm happy either way (merge or leave alone) — I would have edited SE's question, but I didn't get to it in time before it was deleted.

user185131

My issue with the earlier question was that it lacked specific questions about what the OP is looking for. It made the question entirely open-ended, imo.

user185131

The new version is certainly better (although maybe there are a tad too many points asked about?) but the answers are just staggering. What a great effort!

Gareth's question is perhaps equally broad but less open-ended, mentioning some specific issues rather than just "translate this into modern English" as SE said. But would it be fair to edit SE's question that much if we go for the merge?

(SE here meaning the user, not Stack Exchange!)

Napoleon Wilson

5:57 PM

Was that the one that threw the entire 500-line poem at the wall and asked "what gives?"?

Oh wait, is the new question about the entire thing, too and therefore the answers are all paper-length?

user185131

I would prefer merging with the original question. The question is not completely rewritten, it is just given better shape.

@NapoleonWilson Pretty much, yes. (I think you can see it in the review link despite its deletion.) What do you think of Gareth's version which is also about the whole poem but says a bit more than just "what gives?"?

user185131

Perhaps it's possible to separate some parts of the question into a new one? For instance, maybe the part on the rhyme schemes could make a separate question? (I haven't yet read the answers entirely, though, so this is just my guess.) Maybe even the last question on the effect of putting obscure references in the novel can be separated out?

Napoleon Wilson

@Randal'Thor I don't really know. I'm probably not going to bother trying to assess it. If anything, the length of the answers doesn't bode well. But if it works for everyone else. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Brahadeesh There's a lot going on there, for sure. I wonder if it would be possible to separate the question into two parts corresponding to the two answers, so that the answers could be posted on separate threads? (I haven't read either of them yet.)

user185131

6:08 PM

@Randal'Thor The second answer consists of line notes, so there won't be a way to split the question to map onto the two answers... But splitting the question and then rearranging the material in the answers into single (perhaps lengthy) answers should be possible.

Mithical

6:24 PM

@Bookworm Didn't expect this to go HNQ like that.

I've never even read Macbeth. I opened up the play at random and it opened up to that page. :P

3 hours later…

Q: Does the Capital's influence extend beyond the United States?

9:38 PM

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes contains the following passage: "Did I ever go to District Two?" Maude Ivory asked. "No, baby, that's out west. The Covey stayed more east," Barb Azure told her. "Sometimes we went north," said Tam Amber, and Coriolanus realized it was the first time he'd heard...

suzanne-collins the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes hunger-games

@Bookworm Should questions about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes really be tagged additionally with the-hunger-games if the novel isn't actually part of that trilogy?

2 hours later…