Life Less Literary - Dan Sumption lives here - Latest Comments in Treacle Song, Radio 3

Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

Mold Removal — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:31:58 -0000

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Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

Neat Receipts Scanner — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:02:06 -0000

I agree with you it loose my heart.
Cool post.

Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

millipo25 — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 07:56:44 -0000

Here is this guy who really takes care of his body; he lifts weights and jogs five miles every day.

One morning, he looks into the mirror and admires his body. He notices that he is really sun tanned all over except one part and he decides to do something about it.

He goes to the beach, completely undresses and buries himself in the dand except for the one part sticking out.

Two little old ladies are strolling along the beach and one looks down and says, "There really is no justice in this world."

The other little old lady says, "What do you mean?"

The first little old lady says, "Look at that."

"When I was 10 years old, I was afraid of it."

"When I was 20 years old, I was curious about it."

"When I was 30 years old, I enjoyed it."

"When I was 40 years old, I asked for it."

"When I was 50 years old, I paid for it."

"When I was 60 years old, I prayed for it."

"When I was 70 years old, I forgot about it."

"And now that I'm 80, the damned things are growing wild!!"

Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

dansumption — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:14:26 -0000

Hmm, seems I'm being invaded by interesting spam-bots. It's enough to loose [sic] my heart.

Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

Boutique Hotels Sydney — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:48:34 -0000

What a thought "Dar, cook choclate shadow" .
It can loose the heart of anyone.

Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

Suz — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:35:29 -0000

Yes, my 'ohne' translation cocks it right up, innit? English Lit, not German Lit. :-)

Should now read: alliterative voiceless velar plosive

You could hyphenate 'cook-chocolate' to avoid the intrusion of an implied or ambiguous possessive, or leave it as is for interesting mystery; Cooking Chocolate? The Cook's Chocolate? Hmmm.

Anyway. Jolly nice,

sue

Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

Dan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:54:49 -0000

Very good, but "ohne" means without, not "one" - I feel this
fundamentally undermines your analysis.

Also, I seem to remember that I spent ages dithering over "cooking
chocolate" vs "cook's chocolate", before settling on "cook chocolate".

Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

dansumption — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:54:05 -0000

Very good, but "ohne" means without, not "one" - I feel this
fundamentally undermines your analysis.

Also, I seem to remember that I spent ages dithering over "cooking
chocolate" vs "cook's chocolate", before settling on "cook chocolate".

2009/7/1 Disqus <>:

Re: Treacle Song, Radio 3

Suz — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:41:26 -0000

'Her voice, singing,
Baked in a land of brown, black and purple.
Light, milk coffee clouds;
Dark, cook chocolate shadows;
Sparkle Stabs of Sugared Violet.

Ohne Zucker Bitte.
Kein Kandis."

This 7 line poem, by Daniel Sumption, inspired by a song about treacle ( a sugar-based oleaginous comestible used especially in baking and desserts) speaks in the first line of a female voice singing, which reminds the narrator of colours, perhaps reminiscent of sweet times evoked by pleasant foods.

In the second line, there is an allusion to baking, or perhaps of distant lands; the colours (of her voice) are of cakes and sweet things, or distant remembered landscapes, topped by light, milky clouds.

The fourth line contrasts the lightness of the third with a darker motive: strong alliteration in 'cook chocolate' and a hint of assonance between 'chocolate' and 'shadow' further empower the metaphor. There's an almost tabloid-esque triple alliteration in 'Sparkle Stabs of Sugared Violet' to further home the empathy the author feels with the voice, singing so sweetly.

Only in the last two lines does the author add a mischievous contrasting twist: 'Ohne Zucker Bitte.' (One sugar, please ), and an alliterative contradictory voiceless velar plosive in the last line: ' Kein Kandis (No sugar.)

The poem could perhaps be a reminisce, a longing for welcoming domestic pleasures; the warm scent of baking, and the promise of pleasant, homely times.

Susan Schofield

1st Year OU Arts Student: Y160- 'Making Sense of the Arts' BA(Hons) English Lit.