The Dolly Sisters

            On Monday morning I started memorizing “Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais” (I just came by to tell you I’m gonna leave) by Serge Gainsbourg. Although it’s long it shouldn’t take very much time since it’s basically a verse and a chorus repeated over and over again with only slight variations.

            I worked on my essay on “Au lecteur” by Charles Baudelaire.

            I had the rest of the lentil soup with some potato chips for lunch.

            After a siesta in the early afternoon I finished the first draft of my essay and I was only three words over the three hundred-word limit:

 In “Au Lecteur” Charles Baudelaire uses enclosed ABBA rhyme to reflect our containment in the circumstance of repeated indulgence in vices that are merely food for the parasite of remorse. The rhyming couplet in the middle of each quatrain symbolizes the connection between the halves of our dual nature of penitent and libertine that is confined by another rhyme above and below it, representing the morally polluted environment that surrounds us. In addition to serving as elevator music for the descent to the darkness of our nature, the rhymes lift the weight of the poem in a dance that is a type of descending flight to keep us from being drowned in the slimy morass of ourselves. The rhythmic harmonization of word sounds diminishes the gravity of the dark situation the poet is describing to a degree that a non-rhyming version of this poem would not be able to achieve. The top and bottom rhymes of each stanza are further apart than they would be in a more songlike iambic pentameter poem. This poem's Alexandrine line form of iambic hexameter causes the top rhyme to become an almost forgotten connection, thus teasing the reader with momentary disorientation. The Alexandrine metrical structure also serves to render our journey to the underworld more difficult by extending the length of each line to the edge of breathing comfort. Weakened slightly by the length of the lines, we are faced with the problems they present us in Petrarchan style quatrains, none of which are resolved in the end by sestets. There are no overt resolutions to the troubles that pile up. There is no metaphor of god in this poem to serve as the counterpoint and rhyme of the Devil. The only hint of resolution lies at the end when the author rhymes himself with the reader.

            I did my exercises while listening to Amos and Andy. In this story Kingfish looks at the calendar and sees that the next day is Sapphire’s birthday and so now he has to find a gift even though he has no money. He tries to open a charge account but with no job he is rejected for credit. This season the show tends to segue directly from an aspect of the story to a song by the Delta Rhythm Boys rather than to present it separately. In this case the song is “I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" with lyrics by Joseph McCarthy and a melody adapted from Chopin’s “Fantaisie-Impromptu”. 

            It was published in 1917 and first sung by Rosie and Jenny Dolly, the famous identical twin Dolly Sisters in the 1918 Broadway show “Oh, Look!”  

           

             It was first recorded the same year by Harry Fox, who was the creator of the Foxtrot. Kingfish ends up stealing $5 that Sapphire has stashed away to buy her a present. He goes to a department store and there is a commentary on the post war shortages when the lazy elevator operator calls out the floors. On the house wares floor he names several of the items that are sold there and then adds that they don’t have any of them. In the end Kingfish buys Sapphire a kimono, which he gives her for her birthday the next morning. She tells him that she wished he hadn’t taken her $5 because she’d been saving it for something and it wasn't her birthday, it was his.

            During the day I made homemade cranberry sauce. Since I didn’t have any turkey I grilled four chicken legs.

            I started working on my seminar starter, which had to be uploaded the next evening. Since my seminar starter is on the same topic as my essay, writing it involves copying my essay on “Au Lecteur” by Charles Baudelaire and whittling the copy down from 300 words to 150. It's not as easy as it sounds. The main points can stay but I have to connect them differently so the amendments will make sense.

            I had one of the chicken legs with cranberry sauce, a potato and gravy. I normally wouldn’t drink a beer on a Monday but since it was Thanksgiving I treated myself to the bottle of Lesajsk that I’ve had in the fridge for several months.

            I watched an episode of Wanted Dead or Alive starring Steve McQueen. In this story Josh has been escorting a prisoner via stage when the stage is attacked by Apaches. Josh's prisoner dies and the only survivors are Josh and a middle-aged gentleman from the east named Jefferson Klingsmith. Josh has to get them both across Apache territory and to water. They are attacked by Apaches on a few occasions, almost drink from a poison water hole and are being followed by two outlaws hoping to rescue Josh’s prisoner. When they catch up to them they are about to kill them when they are killed by Apaches. In an unrealistic battle, Josh fights them all off single-handed. Throughout their trek Klingsmith struggles with understanding Josh’s life as a bounty hunter. Josh finally explains that this is lawless territory and until there is law throughout it, the west needs people like him.

            I worked for another hour on my seminar starter:

In “Au Lecteur” Charles Baudelaire uses rhyme to perform several important functions that a free verse translation of the poem could not accomplish. The enclosed rhyming couplet in the middle of each quatrain symbolizes our dual nature of penitent and libertine. The couplet is confined by rhymes above and below representing our morally polluted environment. The iambic hexameter Alexandrine lines put more distance between the top and bottom rhymes of each stanza than iambic pentameter. This extension renders the reading of each line almost beyond breathing comfort, places the rhymes further from memory, momentarily disorients us and makes our journey through the underworld of the self more difficult. We are further faced with problems generated by the Petrarchan style quatrains, with no sestet for resolution. The rhymes lighten the gravity of this situation but the only answer lies at the end when the author rhymes himself with the reader.