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  • Home
  • Theme of the Week
  • Topics
    • Phonetics
      • Myths and Reality
      • Russian vs English Phonetics
    • Children's Books & PopCulture
      • Picture Books
      • Chapter Books
      • Middle Grade Books
      • Young Adult Books
      • FABLES
      • Poetry
        • Holiday Poems
          • St. Valentine's Day
      • Songs
      • Films
      • Games
  • Contact
  • Classes
  • The British in Moscow
    • Names
      • McGill
      • Hodson
      • Colley
      • Hopper
      • Smith
      • Gibson
      • Cazalet
      • Shanks
      • Bowe
      • Piggott and Billet
      • Godfrey
      • Thornton
      • Wartze
      • Charnock
      • Walsh
      • Scott
    • Places
      • Bolton
    • Vvedensky Cemetery

Celebrating Irish Culture. Matthew Sweeney: "It is often said that behind the English of an Irish poet is the ghost of the Irish language..."

3/15/2017

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Matthew Sweeney is a contemporary Irish poet who writes poetry both for grown-ups and for children. He was born in County Donegal in 1952, went to school in Ireland and to University College, Dublin, then studied English and German in London and Germany. His poetry is  rich with tone and atmosphere, as well as humour, although, rather black humour! An interview with Matthew Sweeney can be found here.

Here are some of his poems that I personally like very much. 
None of them is your typical children's poem, mind you, one needs to read them out loud several times to feel the rhythm, find the rhymes (there are rhymes in them! just look closer!), and finally fall in love with them. They are truly beautiful


Fishbones Dreaming (press the title to hear Matthew Sweeney read it)
​

Fishbones lay in the smelly bin.
He was a head, a backbone and a tail.
Soon the cats would be in for him.

He didn’t like to be this way.
He shut his eyes and dreamed back.
 
Back to when he was fat, and hot on a plate.
Beside green beans, with lemon juice
squeezed on him. And a man with a knife
and fork raised, about to eat him.

He didn’t like to be this way.
He shut his eyes and dreamed back.
 
Back to when he was frozen in the freezer.
With lamb cutlets and minced beef and prawns.
Three months he was in there.

He didn’t like to be this way.
He shut his eyes and dreamed back.
 
Back to when he was squirming in a net,
with thousands of other fish, on the deck
of a boat. And the rain falling
wasn’t wet enough to breathe in.

He didn’t like to be this way.
He shut his eyes and dreamed back.
 
Back to when he was darting through the sea,
past crabs and jellyfish, and others
like himself. Or surfacing to jump for flies
and feel the sun on his face.

​He liked to be this way.
He dreamed hard to try and stay there.


THE FIELD

Where the boy sees cattle
there was a battle
but the boy doesn’t know it.
How could he know it?
He sees a field,
no sign of a shield
or an axe, or a sword,
not a cross word,
not a single shout,
just grass on the snout
of a bullock
as he stands on a rock,
chewing,
then mooing
till the boy walks on.
But when the sun
sinks in the sea
the boy would see,
Instead of a farmer,
Ghosts in armour
On ghost-horses.
He’d hear curses,
and the night-sky
miles high
would ring with steel
striking steel,
and the ghostly dead
and the odd head
would lie on the ground,
but not a sound
will the boy hear.
He won’t be near.
He’ll be home in bed,
as good as dead.

It's interesting how easy it is to forget about old times and old fought battles, from centuries ago. English  - and Irish! - soil is full of such places! From the middle ages, with warriors wearing armour, shields, axes (!!!) and swords. It all sounds more like a scene from a fantasy book. But it all happened!

BLUE HAIR
 
In between the dinner ladies
runs the blue-haired boy,
spilling beans and jelly,
and all us kids are yelling
‘Catch him! Catch Blue Hair!’
though mostly we like him,
would like to be like him
but wouldn’t dare. And look,
he’s out front again –
the forks are clattering down –
and haring past our tables,
our laughing, screaming tables,
with five teachers in pursuit
(they’ll never catch Blue Hair!).
And none of us can eat,
we’re banging with our spoons,
blowing with our breaths,
erupting in a roar
as Blue Hair dodges everyone
and bursts out the door.

I just love the lines "though mostly we like him, would like to be like him" with three meanings of the word "like" coming one after another!

СOWS ON THE BEACH
Two cows,
fed-up with grass, field, farmer,
barged through barbed wire
and found the beach.
Each mooed to each:
This is a place to be,
a stretch of sand next to the sea,
this is the place for me.

And they stayed there all day,
strayed this way, that way,
over to rocks,
past discarded socks,
ignoring the few people they met
(it wasn’t high season yet).
They dipped hooves in the sea,
got wet up to the knee,
they swallowed pebbles and sand,
found them a bit bland,
washed them down with sea-water,
decided they really ought  to
rest for an hour.
Both were sure
they’d never leave here.
Imagine, they’d lived so near
and never knew!
With a swapped moo
they sank into sleep,
woke to the yellow jeep
of the farmer
revving there
feet from the incoming sea.
This is no place for cows to be,
he shouted, and slapped them
with seaweed, all the way home.

There's an interesting place here in the 4th line from the end. It takes some effort to grasp the meaning of "feet". 

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Saint Patrick's Day - Celebrating Irish Week!

3/11/2017

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John Field (1782-1837)
​Next week the Irish all over the world  will be celebrating their patron saint's day. 
What could be a better reason to resume our study of the British expatriates who lived in Russia at different periods of time - only this time focusing on the Irish, rather than the Scots!

Let's begin with a question: How many Irish composers do we know? Even to say 'not many' would probably be an exaggeration. But there is one composer and a pianist who is at least known to professional musicians. He is considered to be one of the most prominent - if not the most prominent - Irish composers in the history of the country, as well as the creator of nocturne as a genre. His name is John Field and he was a contemporary of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Paganini, Schumann and many others, living in the golden age of romanticism.  

John Field was born in Dublin in 1782 and received an early musical education in his family. Later, when his family moved to London, he became a pupil of Muzio Clementi and remained one for a long time. Together they traveled all over Europe and in 1802 ended up in St. Petersburg, where the 20-year-old Field decided to stay, even after his master had left. In St. Petersburg John Field got to know Griboyedov and Pushkin, and was Mikhail Glinka's teacher. Having become a renowned concert pianist, John Field was enjoying a concert life, giving concerts outside of Russia as well as in Moscow  and St. Petersburg.

​In 1821 he moved to Moscow, which from then until his death in 1837 remained his hometown. John Field died in Moscow and was buried at Vvedenskoye cemetery, where all foreigners were buried.

​There is John Field's bust in the Irish Embassy in Moscow.​
 ​Here's some of his music on the Russian theme. 

This year - 2017 - marks John Field's 235th anniversary and 180 years since his death.  The more reason to celebrate his glorious life this coming week!
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Pancakes in a Little House in the Big Woods

2/23/2017

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           "Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little grey house made of logs.
         The great, dark trees of the Big Woods stood all around the house, and beyond them were other trees and beyond them were more trees. As far as a man could go to the north win a day, or week, or a whole month, there was nothing but woods. There were no houses, There were no roads. There were no people. There were only trees and the wild animals who had their homes among them...
"

 
This is the beginning of a wonderful 'Little House' series of children's books about the life of a pioneer family in the Wild West written in the 1930s-1940s by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was describing her own childhood experiences and that's what makes the books especially interesting to read. They are full of humour, many little stories inside the main story and many details of how people lived in that harsh environment: how they celebrated different holidays, how they made maple syrup, what they ate and how they had fun. 

There is no account of what they did for Shrove Tuesday, but there is a description of how their mother made pancakes on other days:

"... For breakfast there were pancakes, and Ma made a pancake man for each one of the children. Ma called each one in turn to bring her plate, and each could stand by the stove and watch, while with the spoonful of batter Ma put on the arms and the legs and the head. It was exciting to watch her turn the whole little man over, quickly and carefully, on a hot griddle. When it was done, she put it smoking hot on the plate ..."
​

I personally found it quite inspirational and for several years while my kids were little made them animal-shaped pancakes. 
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Christian Maths or Happy Pancake Time: Celebrating Maslenitsa, Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday...

2/23/2017

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2017 is one of those years when Eastern Orthodox (including Russian Orthodox) and Western (not just Catholic!) Christian churches celebrate Easter the same day. So one would think that they would all have their happy pancake time together as well. After all, Lent traditionally should last 40 days - the same number of days that Jesus Christ spent fasting in the wilderness.

But if you look at the calendars you will be surprised to see that  western christians will be having their single pancake day (February 28) when the Orthodox have already had their long pancake week (February 20-26) and are 2 days into Lent! The funny thing is, if we take this year's  Ester day - April 16 - and count 40 days back we will get March 11, which is neither Russian Orthodox, nor Western Christian beginning of Lent. How can that make sense mathematically?

Well, it doesn't.  While maths is important in Christianity, it's not the main thing. That's why it gets a little complicated.

​The Russian Orthodox Lent period lasts 48 days: first, 40 days straight, beginning on Monday after a whole week of Maslenitsa. Divide 40 days of Lent by 7 days of the week and you will get 6 weeks minus 2 days (6x7=42). These two days come at the end of the Lent and are Saturday before Palm Sunday (Lazarus Saturday) and Palm Sunday itself, when there's no fasting. The Holy Week (or Passion Week) that follows has 6 more days of fasting, which is another lent - the Lent of the Passion Week. So, all in all, 40+2+6= 48 days.

The Western Christian Lent period lasts 46 days and begins on Ash Wednesday which comes after Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (the pancake day). Since Sundays - even Sundays in Lent - in the Western Christian tradition are considered to be holidays of Resurrection, when there should be no sorrow and therefore no fasting, the six Sundays in Lent are not counted: 46-6=40.

Isn't that fascinating?

Here are some religious words used in the post! 
to fast = not to eat (поститься). We can see this word in the word 'breakfast'. Since we don't eat at night, we break our fast in the morning by having breakfast!
Lent - пост
Palm Sunday - вербное воскресенье
Shrove Tuesday - прощёный вторник, масленица
Mardi Gras - жирный вторник, масленица (фр.)
Ash Wednesday - пепельная среда, начало Великого поста
Easter - Пасха
Resurrection - воскрешение, воскресение
wilderness = desert. Don't forget that 'wild-' in this world is pronounced with a short monophthong [i] and not a diphthong [ai]!

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Defender of the Fatherland Day (continued)

2/16/2017

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Thomas Mackenzie (1740-1786)
​Фома Фомич Мекензи 
​


​Another prominent Scottish name in the military history of Russia and a true defender of our Fatherland is Rear Admiral Thomas Mackenzie, better known as Фома Фомич Мекензи (1740-1786).  
 
He was born in Russia to the Scottish family of Thomas Mackenzie – Фома Калинович Мекензи (his father’s name was Colin, but it looks like the spelling with an ‘a’, that brings to mind a certain berry, appealed to the Russians more), and Ann Mackenzie, the granddaughter of Admiral Thomas Gordon – another “Russian” Scot who lived in Peter the Great’s time and was Governor of Kronstadt.
 
Thomas Mackenzie had a brilliant career in the Russian Navy starting as a midshipman  and rising through the ranks to rear admiral.
 
Thomas Mackenzie took part in many battles in the Russo-Turkish Wars (1768-1774). But what he is most famous for is the fact that it was him who founded the city of Sevastopol on 14 June 1783. It happened when he had to spend the winter in the uninhabited bay of Akhtiar on the Crimean Peninsula. He had with him nine frigates and several smaller ships. The city he had in mind was a base for the navy that would have a shipyard, a hospital, barracks for the sailors and living quarters for the officers. Thomas Mackenzie successfully implemented his plan; and today, the Mackenzie heights (Мекензиевы горы) on the outskirts of Sevastopol remind us of the brave and insightful Foma Fomitch.


Here are some navy words used in the post! 
'midshipman - try saying this word very quickly and you will get its Russian translation! (мичман).  In fact, this is a fantastic example of trans-language assimilation (not that the term really exists!) Midshipman is a compound word made up of three little ones: mid+ship+man, all three monosyllabic with short vowels. The middle one - ship - is the least noticeable out of the three due to the voiceless consonants and a clipped vowel. [p] becomes completely assimilated with the following [m]; -sh- together with [d] form the voiceless affricate -tch-; [i] becomes voiceless and disappears altogether. So what is left to the Russian ear? Мичман. That's what.
rear admiral - a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral (контр-адмирал).
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Defender of the Fatherland Day

2/14/2017

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James Bruce (1670-1735)
​Яков Вилимович Брюс

​There were many British military men who defended our Fatherland throughout the history of Russia. Surprisingly, or maybe not quite so surprisingly, many of them were of Scottish origin, the Scots being famous for their long military tradition and remarkable bravery. Sometimes there were whole families that bravely served Russian tsars. One of such families was the Bruce family.
 
The first Bruce to come to Russia was officer James Bruce, who in 1647 decided to go abroad in order to escape from ‘the troubles of Oliver Cromwell’. He was the founder of the Russian Bruce branch, served under tsar Alexey Mikhailovich as a major and died near Azov in 1695.  
 
His son, Colonel and later Major General William Bruce fully assimilated into the Russian culture and raised his sons Roman and James as Russians. He died in 1680.
 
Lieutenant-General Roman Vilimovitch Bruce (1668-1720) participated in the Azov campaign and in the Siege of Schlüsselburg. He was commandant of St.Petersburg and built the Fort of St.Peter and St.Paul, where he is buried.

His younger brother Field Marshall James Bruce (better known as Yakov Vilimovitch Bruce) (1670-1735) participated in the Crimean and Azov campaigns, as well as in the Great Northern War against Sweden. After Peter the Great’s army was defeated by the Swedes near Narva in 1700, it was James Bruce who improved the Russian army, which eventually led to its victory over Sweden in 1709. In 1721 Peter I made him Count. James Bruce had a house in the centre of Moscow, and later in the 18th century the street where his house was located was named after him and his cousin who inherited it: Brusov pereulok.
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Some more info about James Bruce
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St.Valentine's Day coming up soon!

2/11/2017

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St.Valentines' Day Poems!
Do you know the English-language equivalent of our teaser "Тили-тили тесто, жених и невеста..."? Here you go!
Arthur (put any name here) and his girlfriend sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G.  (this is spelled out: kay-eye-ess-ess-eye-en-gee)
First comes love, then comes marriage,
Then comes Arthur with a baby carriage!
A reading of the book called "Arthur's Valentine" by Marc Brown
And here's the excellent Marc Brown himself speaking about this book of his!
The key words here are "a secret admirer" and "to have a crush on smb"
And of course, Carolyn Graham's Holiday Jazz Chants always come in handy!
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    Author

    My name is Elena Rafaelevna Watson, I have been teaching English as a foreign language for over 25 years now. I have also been translating and interpreting (English/Russian) for over 20 years.

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