Reading Marlborough, learning good English with simple words

Historian Andrew Roberts said of Churchill, “managed to combine the most magnificent use of English — usually short words, Anglo-Saxon words, Shakespearean.”

Here are examples of two short words in his Marlborough:

“Barcelona was captured.  Whosoever's conception it was, whether it arose from accident, caprice, or profound design, the glory belongs to Peterborough, who lost no time in claiming it.  Forthwith he sent Stanhope to England with dispatches couched in a grandiloquent vein. . . .”

couch [put in words to express]

vein [a special character, disposition; state of mind or mood]

JFK said on April 9, 1963 on the Proclamation Conferring Honorary U.S. Citizenship on Sir Winston Churchill, “In the dark days and darker nights when England stood alone — and most men save Englishmen despaired of England's life — he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.”

JFK quoted “he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle” without giving the proper credit to the war time broadcast journalist, Edward Murrow.

Reading Churchill, learning good English

The Royal Navy has immediately attacked the U-boats, and is hunting them night and day—I will not say without mercy, because God forbids we shall never part company with that, but at any rate with zeal and not together without relish.

Churchill wrote about the success of hunting German U-boats at the outbreak of WWII in 1939.  It is hard to explain, but this is a very good writing.  A decent and civilized man shouldn’t say killing people, even enemy, without mercy.  But, he still cannot help to say “not together without relish [great enjoyment]”.

We have our mistakes, our weakness and failings, but in the fight this island race has made, had it not been the toughest of the tough; if the spirit of freedom which burns in the British breasts had not been a pure, dazzling, inextinguishable flame, we might not yet have been near the end of this war.

Churchill made a speech at Bristol University on April 21, 1945 toward the end of WWII; Hitler would commit suicide nine days later.

-         “had it not been the toughest of the tough”, which is the same as “if it had not been the toughest of the tough”, it is better to omit the “if”, especially the next sentence also begins with an “if”.

If necessary, we shall continue the war alone, and we are not afraid of that. . . But I trust you realize, Mr. President, that the voice and force of the United State may count for nothing if they are withheld too long . . . . Within three weeks the long-famed French Army was to collapse in rout and ruin, and our only British Army to be hurled into the sea with all its equipment lost.  Within six weeks we were to find ourselves alone, almost disarmed with triumphant Germany and Italy at our throats, with the whole of Europe open to . . .

The above is seen in Churchill’s letter to FDR on May 15, 1940, more than one year and seven months before the Pearl Harbor attack.  Of the nine hundred and fifty letters/messages that Churchill sent FDR during WWII, many urged FDR to take action and join the fight.

-         “rout and ruin” is just one example of the numerous alliteration phrases that, along with rhetorical flourishes, characterized Churchill’s writings.  One of these days I will write a post about Churchill’s uses of alliteration.

-         I once had a two-sentence letter-to-the-editor; I sent it simply because of the alliteration that I came up with (rapturous and riotous roar).

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-two-sentence-letter-to-editor-at.html

Reading history, learning good English: pregnant and transcendent

I do not read the history of all US Presidents or all England Kings, but many interest me, Henry II was one of them.

My reading of the history of England usually begins in William the Conqueror, nearly 1,000 years ago.  Henry I was the son of William the Conqueror and the grandfather of Henry II.  That should give you some idea of who Henry II was and when he reigned.  Several things about Henry II intrigued me.

T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral is the only verse play/verse drama that I read or may be the only one that was present in English literature.  This is the story of Henry II and Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.

I always want  to write the interesting stories of several famous Archbishops of Canterbury over the ages, but never got time to do it.

On a light moment during WWII Churchill promised Roosevelt to recommend him for the position of Archbishop of Canterbury if FDR should lost the Presidential election (for the 4^th term).  I forgot what U.S. position FDR offered Churchill if he were to meet the same fate; the Chairman of the Federal Reserve? Nevertheless, it was a very important position that was appointed, not elected.

Before “William the Conqueror” (the Norman) invaded England Isle, he was Duke of Normandy (now part of France); he was just a duke to the French King Louis VII.  The modern English people are blending Anglo-Saxon with Norman.  Normans were French, even though they are not strictly the French race.

In A History of English Speaking People, Churchill wrote, 

“The accession of Henry II began one of the most pregnant and decisive reigns in English history. . . Few mortals have led so full a life as Henry II or have drunk so deeply of the cups of triumph and sorrow.  In later life he fell out with Eleanor [his wife].  When she was over fifty and he but forty-two he is said to have fallen in love with “Fair Rosamond”, a damosel [a young woman] of high degree and transcendent beauty, and generations have enjoyed the romantic tragedy of Queen Eleanor, . . . . offering her hapless [unfortunate] supplanter [one to replace] the hard choice between the dagger and the poisoned cup. Tiresome investigators have undermined this excellent tale, but it certainly should find its place in any history worthy of the name.”

Queen Eleanor was the consort queen for French King Louis VII from whom she divorced and then married Henry II, (eleven years of her junior) King of England, the rival of Louis VII.  She offered the hard choice between the dagger and the poisoned cup to the mistress of her husband, Henry II.

-          Pregnant here means “meaningful and weighty”

-          I like the word of transcendent and even wrote a post of it last year.  It is difficult to comprehend and to use the word of “transcendent”; I don’t know its equivalent in Chinese.

-          ‘transcendent’ means “exceeding usual limits or being above material existence”; it also means “heavenly or otherworldly”.  When uses ‘transcendent’ to describe beauty, it is a beauty unseen in this world,  美若天仙, so to speak.

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2015/03/transcendent-joy-for-amanda-knox.html

 The following is what Churchill wrote about Hitler's Mein Kampf.

All was there--the programme of German resurrection, the technique of party propaganda; the plan for combating Marxism; the concept of a National-Socialist State; the rightful position of Germany at the summit of the world.  Here was the new Koran of faith and war: turgid, verbose, shapeless, but pregnant with its message.

-          Pregnant here means “filled or fraught; replete”, such as <This was, from the Party’s point of view, both deplorable in itself and pregnant with danger for the future.>

“It’s a long way to Tipperary” and “Tipperary so far away”: Quoting two songs makes good writing and good speech

Churchill once said, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it,” wrote he did.  There is no argument that Churchill was a formidable historian and he wrote it with a literary flavor.  He was a Nobel Literature laureate (1953).  We read “A literary prize is intended to cast lustre over the author, but here it is the author who gives lustre to the prize” in the Nobel Prize presentation speech.  Churchill regretted that he never been able to study at Oxford.  I think it is Oxford that should regret that Churchill never had a chance to matriculate there.

On the event that led to British Government renouncing all rights to occupy two Irish ports in 1938 at the eve pf WWII, Churchill wrote,

  

The reader is now invited to move westward to the Emerald Isle.  “It's a long way to Tipperary,” but a visit there is sometimes irresistible.  In the interval between Hitler's seizure of Austria and his unfolding design upon Czechoslovakia we must turn to a wholly different kind of misfortune which befell us.

-          “Emerald Isle” is the poetic name of Ireland.

-          “It's a long way to Tipperary” is a popular military song during WWI

-          Tipperary is a town in Ireland.  

-          Using poetic name of Ireland and mentioning a very popular song about Ireland is a literary way to talk about event concerning Ireland in his Memoir of the Second World War.

-          Another famous song about Tipperary is “Tipperary so far away”, which leads me to the following story of Ronald Reagan.

During his Presidency, Reagan visited Ballyporeen in Ireland, the native town of his ancestors. Ballyporeen is in Tipperary County.  His talk at Ballyporeen on June 3, 1984 was sentimental and touching.

The bond between our two countries runs deep and strong, and I am proud to be here in recognition and celebration of our ties that bind.  My roots in Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, and little different from millions of other Americans who find their roots in towns and counties all over the Isle of Erin.  I just feel exceptionally lucky to have this chance to visit you.

Last year a member of my staff came through town and recorded some messages from you.  It was quite a tape, and I was moved deeply by the sentiment that you expressed.  One of you townsmen sang me a bit of a tune about Sean Tracy, and a few lines struck my mind.  They went like this--not that I'll sing--"And I'll never more roam, from my own native home, in Tipperary so far away."

Well, the Reagans roamed to America, but now we are back.  And Nancy and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming out to welcome us, for the warmth of your welcome.  God bless you all.

-          You can watch the YouTube of Reagan’s talk:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bQVxdhitok

-          Isle of Erin is Irish way to say Ireland.

-          Reagan was not known as an intellectual.  After reading Reagan’s diary many years ago, my perception of him changed.  By the way, his famous “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall” is from Reagan himself, not from speech writers.

Reading stories, learning good English: portentous

In teaching the postgraduate class of “高級英文” (Advanced English) in the National Taiwan University, Professor Pang-yuan Chi (齊邦媛) asked her students to read two to four books in English each semester.  The books she used included Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.  I would choose Middlemarch by George Eliot and Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.  If students complain that these two books are too voluminous, then Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front would be a good choice.

Since Dr. Lydgate is one of the main characters in Middlemarch, there are lots of medicine and practice of medicine in it.  The way Eliot described the rivalry of physicians in clinical practice (in 1830s England) is still true in America nowadays.

I came across an article collected in the US National Library of Medicine that was originally published in British Medical Journal (28 July 2007) with a title of Middlemarch, in which it says Middlemarch contains several cases and the great pathologist Sir James Paget (of Paget disease fame) described all the cases as being “flawless in clinical detail”.  Eliot read Lancet while preparing to write this novel.

One of the cases is a patient [Nancy] was initially diagnosed to have tumor by another doctor; Dr. Lydgate felt otherwise.

But by-and-by Nancy, in her attic, became portentously worse, the supposed tumor having indeed given way to the blister, but only wandered to another region with angrier pain.

-          “portentous” here means “omnious, threatening, menacing, inauspicious, unfavorable”

-          “angrier pain” is a beautiful language.  About a week or so after D-Day, Churchill went to Normandy Beach in a battleship, which fired at German positions, Churchill wrote that was the first time the battleship he boarded fired “in angry”.

Being an ultimate Imperialist, Churchill treated Gandhi with contempt.  The following is from his Memoir of the Second World War (The Gathering Storm): “portentous” is used in totally different way.

It was on India that our definite breach occurred.  The Prime Minister, strongly supported and even spurred by the Conservative Viceroy, Lord Irwin, afterwards, Lord Halifax, pressed forward with his plan of Indian self-government.  A portentous conference was held in London, of which Mr. Gandhi, lately released from commodious internment, was the central figure. . . . On the release of Mr. Gadhi, in order that he might become the envoy of Nationalist India to the London conference.  I reached the breaking-point in my relations with Mr. Baldwin.

-          “portentous” here means “done in pompously or overly solemn manner so as to impress”; “portentous” is an excellent use here

-          Churchill loathed and belittled Gandhi whom he called “half-naked fakir”; he didn’t like the Conference, which was held in pompous and solemn manner.  Churchill used “portentous” to say they just made it that way so as to impress.

-          Gandhi was thrown into jail, Churchill said it was just an “internment” in a spacious and comfortable (commodious) room.

Reading Churchill, learning good English: The Battle of Britain

Today (July 10) in 1940 the Battle of Britain began as the Luftwaffe started attacking England.  Churchill wrote,

As the month of June [1940] ground itself out, the sense of potential invasion at any moment grew upon us all. . . . It was not until July 10 [1940] the first heavy onslaught began, and this date is usually taken as the opening of the battle.  Two other dates of supreme consequence stand out, August 15 and September 15.  There were also these successive but overlapping phases in the German attack.  First from July 10 to August 18 the harrying of British conveys in the Channel and of our southern ports from Dover to Plymouth, whereby our Air Force should be tested drawn into battle, and depleted; whereby also damage should be done to those seaside towns marked as objective for the forthcoming invasion. . . .

The Royal Air Force remained vexatiously alive, and Goering October resigned himself to the indiscriminate bombing of London and the centers of industrial production. . . .

Ours [pilots] had supreme confidence in themselves as individuals and that determination which the British race displays in fullest measure when in supreme adversity. . .

This led Churchill to say, “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed, by so many, to so few.” In early autumn of 1940.

-          “harry” is to attack, assault or devastate.

-          ‘vexatiously alive’: The Royal Air Force was still alive, causing vexation (irritation, annoyance, exasperation) for Germans

During the London Blitz, the Germans dropped many U.X.B (the delayed unexploded bombs) that needed to be dug out and defused by bomb disposal squad.  In the Their Finest Hour volume of Memoirs of the Second World War, Churchill wrote:

One squad I remember which may be taken as symbolic of many others.  It consisted of three people--the Earl of Suffolk, his lady private secretary, and his rather aged chauffeur.  They called themselves “the Holy Trinity”.  Their prowess and continued existence got around among all who knew.  Thirty-four unexploded bombs did they tackle with urbane and smiling efficiency.  But the thirty-fifth claimed its forfeit.  Up went the Earl of Suffolk in his Holy Trinity.  But we may be sure that, as for Mr. Valiant-for-truth, “all the trumpets sounded for them on the other side”.

-          Earl of Suffolk is an educated man with a title, thus “tackle with urbane and smiling efficiency”; “urbane” (suave, courteous and refined)

-          forfeit (something that is lost due to neglect of duty, breach of contract or wrong doing).  “The thirty-fifth bomb claimed its forfeit” is somewhat difficult to understand; life was lost because of error in disposing the bomb.

-          Since they (Earl of Suffolk, his lady secretary and chauffeur) called themselves “the Holy Trinity”, it is fitting for Churchill to quote “The Pilgrim's Progress” by John Bunyan, a 17^thcentury Christian writer and preacher in England.

Reading Churchill, learning good English: flag and husband

Professor Pang-yuan Chi (齊邦媛) taught a class of “高級英文” (Advanced English) in the National Taiwan University.  It is hard to define “advanced English”.  But I can tell “good English” when I see one.  I will write a series of “Reading Churchill, learning good English”.

The following is Churchill’s speech when England stood alone in early 1940.  There is no ornate, florid big word.

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.  We shall go on to the end.  We shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air; we shall defend our Island, whatever cost may be.  We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender; and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.

-          “we shall not flag and fail,” is just one of the numerous alliterations that Churchill used so often and so well; I think “flag” here means “weaken, to become unsteady and feeble”.

The following is what Churchill wrote about why and how the blitzkrieging German Army failed to hard pursue the British Expeditionary Forces that led to the 340,000 well-trained soldiers get away and safely returned to England—the famous Dunkirk Evacuation.  Hitler wanted to conserve the panzer divisions for the final blow to finish off French Army, so “to husband the panzer divisions” is to “conserve or economize” it.

However, very early on the 25th [5/25/1940] a fresh directive was sent from Brauchitsch as the Commander-in-Chief ordering the continuation of the advance by the armour.  Rundstedt, fortified by Hitler's verbal agreement, [Hitler visited his headquarter 5/24/40] would have none of it.  He did not pass on the order to the Fourth Army commander, Kluge, who was told to continue to husband the panzer divisions. . . . It is therefore certain that the armour was halted; that this was done on the initiative not of Hitler but of Rundstedt.  Rundstedt no doubt had reasons for his view both in condition of the armour and in the general battle, but he ought to have obeyed the formal orders of the Army Command, or at least told them what Hitler had said in conversation.  There is general agreement among the German commanders that a great opportunity was lost.