It's a whistle blown ripe in a trice,
It's the cracking of ice in a gale,
It's a night that turns green leaves to ice,
It's a duel of two nightingales.
It is sweet-peas run gloriously wild,
It's the world's twinking tears in the pod,
It is Figaro like hot hail hurled
From the flutes on the wet flower bed.
It is all that the night hopes to find
On the bottom of deep bathing pools,
It's the star carried to the fish-pond
In your hands, wet and trembling and cool.
This close air is as flat as the boards
In the pond. The sky's flat on its face.
It would be fun if these stars guffawed-
But the universe is a dull place.
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whistle blown ripe in a trice
From guest mary (contact)
I'm not sure what "It's a whistle blown ripe in a trice" means. Would some, please, tell me? Thank you. I know the words trice means to hang or secure something with a rope, and ripe suggests (just guessing) that the whistle was blown suddenly or the sounds of it interrupted silence or waiting, but beyond that I'm not sure what it means.
(My best guess is that "ripe" means "fullness", either that or it's a typo! MOD) -
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The "whistle blown ripe in atrice" is, to my English ears, a simple phrase. Blown ripe would seem to mean in a clear, crisp, fresh fashion and trice is a nonce-word indicating almost instantaneous. I don't know if that was what it meant before translation but that's how it reads to me now.
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I doubt we can accurately answer whether it's a typo since it is a translation, and I'm not even sure who translated it. I know another source translates that first line as, "It's a tightly filled whistle." Another as, "A whistle sounding tight." So I would guess ripe is the intended word and maybe means, fully developed, or mature, full, as in the sound. And trice may mean, "In a short time, or span, or even a sharp tight sound" But maybe someone else knows more.
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My poetry would be the sweat-peas growing wild, or rather, the garden gone amok.
Compared to imaginative writing, yes the universe is a dull place, or can seem to be. I think we all agree with Pasternak's definition and wish our own could reach such meteoric heights. -
I don't believe Mr Pasternak's universe was a dull place at all. He has written an exciting 'definition' of poetry, the only thing missing are the fireworks!
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