[Vocabulary] and so kill the newly plucked feathers completely,

[jaleel2007]

Hi, teachers
I came across some sentences and want to know How do you interpret them, thank you for you time.

also stuff your feather-bed then, and so kill the newly plucked feathers completely, and bring them to rest.

http://www.berkano.hu/downloads/harley.pdf

"The full moon is the time for pulling down, and thinking of the end of all things. Cut your timber, mow your grass, make your hay, not while the sun shines, but while the moon wanes; also stuff your feather-bed then, and so kill the newly plucked feathers completely, and bring them to rest. Wash your linen, too, by the waning moon, that the dirt may disappear with the dwindling light. 394 "

 

[Tarheel]

What do you think it means to kill newly plucked feathers? (It means nothing to me.)

May I ask why you are reading that stuff?

 

[Tarheel]

I wouldn't have read past that paragraph, because too much of it is baffling. What is "pulling down," and why are you supposed to think about "the end of all things" when the full moon appears? Furthermore, you can't kill feathers nor do they rest. It does seem rather poetic, but I wouldn't pay close attention to it.

 

[jutfrank]

What is "pulling down," and why are you supposed to think about "the end of all things" when the full moon appears?

You've apparently missed the entire point of the text.

I don't properly understand the idea of 'killing' feathers either. I imagine it has something to do with cleaning them, i.e. removing any bits of tissue/blood/bacteria before they are used for bed-stuffing purposes.

 

[jaleel2007]

thanks but still have problem, any idea?

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks, but I still have a problem. Does anyone have any ideas?

My best guess is that by stuffing the feathers into the mattress, the feathers end up completely squashed, crumpled, crushed together. If they were newly plucked, you could sort of imagine that they were only just dead before you crammed them into the mattress. (Of course, feathers are never alive in the common sense of the word.)

 

[Tarheel]

Thanks, but I still have trouble understanding the text. Does anybody have any ideas?

Yes. Read something you can understand. Also, you need to do a better job composing simple sentences.

 

[Tarheel]

You've apparently missed the entire point of the text.

The word "baffling" might have been a clue to that, huh?