18 October 2010

smitten

.


oh- do try


lovely fellow bloggers and even beloved ones.

I know it will be hard.

do not be "smitten"

 ever again.



Exceptions:


Now lightning-struck by thee, Thou mocking eye that me in darkness watcheth: --Thus do I lie, Bend myself, twist myself, convulsed With all eternal torture, And smitten By thee, cruellest huntsman, Thou unfamiliar--GOD.-Nietzsche

That fights with Fate, is smitten grievously. -Sophocles


Middle English smiten, from Old English smtan, to smear.
Old English smītan; related to Old High German smīzan to smear, 
Gothic bismeitan, Old Swedish smēta to daub



Holofernes having been  
"smitten"
by Judith


What exaggeration could there be in the practice of a doctrine wherein one was bidden to turn the other cheek when one was smitten, and give one's cloak if one's coat were taken?-Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

poor Anna.


For it had not been very long prior to the Pequod's sailing from Nantucket, that he had been found one night lying prone upon the ground, and insensible; by some unknown, and seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten, and all but pierced his groin; nor was it without extreme difficulty that the agonizing wound was entirely cured. -Melville's Moby  Dick


Thereupon she approached him, turned the coverlet back, and saw that he was stiff and cold-- that he had died suddenly, as though smitten with a stroke. Dostoyevsky's Poor Folk


A lad whose face had borne an expression of exalted courage, the majesty of he who dares give his life, was, at an instant, smitten abject. Crane's Red Badge of Courage



& it will not be easy
for that sensation to charm, to cavort- to be kittenish  will indeed overtake you.

when it does
resist &

think of A.E.Housman's prophetic words:

O, I am smitten with a hatchet's jaw;
And that in deed and not in word alone.

& think of Judith.




read and see the story in paintings of Judith and Holofernes at It's About Time. 
no links to posts with smitten, or kitten cited .

.

12 comments:

  1. I have NEVER seen Judith dealt with in such an exhaustive, provocative, yet academic manner. Sublime, especially given your introductory taunts.

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  2. Flo, many thanks for that- (& the plea)- both are heartfelt! pgt

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  3. PS: I should have been more specific and thanked you for your link to "It's About Time." As I read down her page looking at one Judith after another, I began to wonder, things being as they were [are], whether Holofernes might have been an abusive lout in a previous, unknown text. Don't mess with a good woman.

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  4. I'm smitten with this blog - just a giant scrapbook of beautiful things and half-thoughts - never did like whole thoughts.

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  5. Smite thee, said Jabberwocky [not really] sayeth me... Little a, sometimes I think I must really be losing it and I wonder what???? Wolynski finally helped me snap. "Beautiful things and half-thoughts". Yeah, I like that.

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  6. Flo, it would follow, No?

    Wolynski, that's just about the nicest compliment!

    Donna- yeah, I like that too!

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  7. I shall not use this word so lightly in future without thinking of this painting....smitten is the most wonderful word with such excellent connotations. As ever a fabulous post, xv.

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  8. I adore words and their various intricacies. Thank you for making me think twice....I've adored your blog for a while now. Keep up the great work.

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  9. Thank you for reminding me of the wonderful A.E Housman and his blue remembered hills.

    Miss Whistle

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  10. I guess it was I who got smitten with the story of Judith. And smitten by your blog the first time I read through it. Thank you.

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  11. vicki, liz, thanks. Hill house, welcome!

    Miss Whistle- yes.
    bws- mutual. your Judiths got me thinking.

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