Almost as soon as I posted that, it felt a mite glib (who, me?) but I
don't do things without some reason. (Which is why I am not a religious
man....)
And you are kind of right- the worlds are similar, though I contend quite
different, in that the world of fiction is intentionally fictional, while
the world of the spirit is mistakenly real. And it is the world of the
author/participant we are talking about, ain't it?
Anyway, the WK's song is about what calling things is all about. So my
contention is that you are presenting us with the name of what the song
is called, rather than what it is. I do not accept your equation.
___________
`You are sad,' the Knight said in an anxious tone: `let me sing you a
song to comfort you.'
`Is it very long?' Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of
poetry that day.
`It's long,' said the Knight, `but very, VERY beautiful. Everybody
that hears me sing it -- either it brings the TEARS into their eyes,
or else -- '
`Or else what?' said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.
`Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called
"HADDOCKS' EYES."'
`Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to feel
interested.
`No, you don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little vexed.
`That's what the name is CALLED. The name really IS "THE AGED AGED
MAN."'
`Then I ought to have said "That's what the SONG is called"?' Alice
corrected herself.
`No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The SONG is called
"WAYS AND MEANS": but that's only what it's CALLED, you know!'
`Well, what IS the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this time
completely bewildered.
`I was coming to that,' the Knight said. `The song really IS
"A-SITTING ON A GATE": and the tune's my own invention.'
*****************
Wade T. Smith
morbius@channel1.com | "There ain't nothin' you
wade_smith@harvard.edu | shouldn't do to a god."
morbius@cyberwarped.com |
******* http://www.channel1.com/users/morbius/ *******