What is the meaning of short-groined?
I’m currently reading Flann O’Brien’s at swim two birds and came across this term in one of Sweeney (Shuibhne)’s verses (p. 5) and have no memory of this term. 82, Penguin Classics 2001). Sweeney seems to be lamenting his misery and using this term to refer to his own condition (i.e., as he complains); however, when Sweeney does not do that, he gets hurt for saying that he is having a “bad day” and not his friends. st. Ronan’s curse turned into the shape of a bird): Forgive me
Oh great Lord, mortal is
the great sorrow, worse than
the black grief – Sweeney (The
Thingroined)
( At Swim-Two-Birds, p. 17) – (. TW Two Birds’s..) 82 Penguin Classics 2001).
What would Flann O’Brien’s work be like with a contemporary dramaturgy like TNT or PBS? I don’t think you will be able to find a consensus on minor details such as what this individual term means. I was meant to post an email, but then never wrote a single comment. I will try my best to offer my take based on the words and context of my posts.
If you read through the entirety of this passage (extending a little beyond both the beginning and the end of the cited portion), O’Brien’s language suggests “sorrow”, “depression”, “weakness”, and “faintness of heart” as potential contextual meanings for this term. At the same time, it can also suggest physical weakness as Sweeney is contrasting himself to stags who are allowed to walk everywhere they want but he is forced to forever wander.
Were Sweeney and Saul right? What are your words? I know this pain and sadness is only temporary, but this madness feels worse than death and I cant fight it. What is the meaning of “At Swim-to-Birds” and the word “thin-groined”?
Is the history of Sweeney’s madness just as accurate as “The Madness of Sweeney”? Much of the imagery in this reflects aspects of that curse such as how he wanders naked (like the stag), treads lightly like a bird (compared to seagulls), and how he can’t keep peace (later mentioned “two hand-shaked cranes”, as cranes are known for being territorial, but due to the curse, during the war, he’d regularly break the truce forbidding combat during the evening.) If he wanders, like a bird, he’d perch himself in trees frequently. Does His body grow feathers in the original tale? The world of the Bible is transformed from man to beast. The passage, also about him laments, that his life has turned out this way.
I hope this in any way helps! I understand this isn’t quite a precise answer, but I don’t know what would be a better way to answer about a guy such as O’Brien’s writing.
What would Flann O’Brien’s work be like with a contemporary dramaturgy like TNT or PBS? I don’t think you will be able to find a consensus on minor details such as what this individual term means. I was meant to post an email, but then never wrote a single comment. I will try my best to offer my take based on the words and context of my posts.
If you read through the entirety of this passage (extending a little beyond both the beginning and the end of the cited portion), O’Brien’s language suggests “sorrow”, “depression”, “weakness”, and “faintness of heart” as potential contextual meanings for this term. At the same time, it can also suggest physical weakness as Sweeney is contrasting himself to stags who are allowed to walk everywhere they want but he is forced to forever wander.
Were Sweeney and Saul right? What are your words? I know this pain and sadness is only temporary, but this madness feels worse than death and I cant fight it. What is the meaning of “At Swim-to-Birds” and the word “thin-groined”?
Is the history of Sweeney’s madness just as accurate as “The Madness of Sweeney”? Much of the imagery in this reflects aspects of that curse such as how he wanders naked (like the stag), treads lightly like a bird (compared to seagulls), and how he can’t keep peace (later mentioned “two hand-shaked cranes”, as cranes are known for being territorial, but due to the curse, during the war, he’d regularly break the truce forbidding combat during the evening.) If he wanders, like a bird, he’d perch himself in trees frequently. Does His body grow feathers in the original tale? The world of the Bible is transformed from man to beast. The passage, also about him laments, that his life has turned out this way.
I hope this in any way helps! I understand this isn’t quite a precise answer, but I don’t know what would be a better way to answer about a guy such as O’Brien’s writing.
