szaroczek
Junior Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
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- Student or Learner
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- Polish
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- Iceland
"listening" with "cogent volubility" ...? come on, give mi a break.
According to the "Norton Anthology of Am. Lit." Ralph Waldo Emerson during his stay in Europe "called on well-known writers, meeting Walter Savage Landor in Italy, listening to Coleridge converse with such cogent volubility that he seemed to be reading aloud, and hearing William Wordsworth recite his poetry."
1. In the quotation there are specified three cases of Emersons "literary" activities. In the second one he was "listening" with "cogent volubility" to the Colleridge. I find "listening" a passive state when only your ears, NOT mouth, are "acting"... You can maybe argue or persuade somebody with "cogent volubility" but not "be listening", cant' you... :roll:
2. Who in your opinion is the "he" in the cited sentence - Emerson or Coleridge, and who is "reading aloud"?
3. So, all in all, what was going on there in regards with that Coleridge-poet? What precisely were both of them doing there?
Thanks.
P.S.
No helpful context is available - just a statement in itself.
According to the "Norton Anthology of Am. Lit." Ralph Waldo Emerson during his stay in Europe "called on well-known writers, meeting Walter Savage Landor in Italy, listening to Coleridge converse with such cogent volubility that he seemed to be reading aloud, and hearing William Wordsworth recite his poetry."
1. In the quotation there are specified three cases of Emersons "literary" activities. In the second one he was "listening" with "cogent volubility" to the Colleridge. I find "listening" a passive state when only your ears, NOT mouth, are "acting"... You can maybe argue or persuade somebody with "cogent volubility" but not "be listening", cant' you... :roll:
2. Who in your opinion is the "he" in the cited sentence - Emerson or Coleridge, and who is "reading aloud"?
3. So, all in all, what was going on there in regards with that Coleridge-poet? What precisely were both of them doing there?
Thanks.
P.S.
No helpful context is available - just a statement in itself.