Talk:Word painting

Ev'ry Valley
These words appear six times, always with a rising motif. In just one of the six cases, there is an octave leap down from "val-" to "-ley": a cliff rather than a valley. Mountain, hill, low, crooked, straight, plain, yes, fine examples; valley, no.

Tom Permutt (talk) 21:44, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

Natural Word Painting
The article briefly mentions the experimentation of word painting in the Italian Madrigal form, but fails to go into any sort of depth. Perhaps someone should expand the paragraph to talk about word painting being used to mimic the actions and sounds of nature, something practiced heavily by Italian composers during the Renaissance (e.g. de Prez' "El Grillo," a chirping ode to the cricket), and even used somewhat in modern popular music (as in the intro to The Cure's "The Caterpillar").

The Mary Rodgers excerpt is a tad inaccurate. The whole point of the song is not that she is bashful. Instead, she actually means that she is "shy" a man.


 * Actually, that's just the word-play joke at the very end (i.e., your "shy a man" meaning that she lacks a man). The whole (ironic) song is the pun's setup, and is, in fact, about the princess's self-professed shyness (which the "belting" of the song, of course, belies [see: "irony"] -- for comedic effect):


 * Queen:
 * You swam the moat?
 * Winnifred:
 * All right, I was a little anxious.
 * My friend, Sir Harry… he told me you had an opening for a princess.
 * Any princess.
 * I figured… the early bird! Oh, anyway, here I am.
 * Who's the lucky man?
 * Winnifred:
 * (reviewing the Knights) Hey nonny, nonny is it you?
 * Knight:
 * Hey nonny, nonny, nonny no!
 * Winnifred:
 * Hey nonny, nonny is it you?
 * Another Knight:
 * Hey nonny, nonny, nonny no!
 * Winnifred:
 * Hey, nonny, nonny is it you, or you, or you, or you, or…
 * Dauntless:
 * Nenny, nonny, nenny, nenny!!!
 * Queen:
 * No! No! No!
 * Winnifred:
 * Someone's being bashful; that's no way to be, not with me.
 * Can't you see that I am just as embarrassed as you?
 * And I can understand your point of view.
 * I've always been… Shy!!
 * I confess it, I'm shy!
 * Can't you guess that this confident air
 * is just a mask that I wear 'cause I'm shy?
 * And you may be sure way down deep I'm demure,
 * though some people I know might deny it at bottom I'm quiet and pure!
 * I'm aware that it's wrong to be meek as I am; my chances may pass me by.
 * I pretend to be strong, but as weak as I am, all I can do is try.
 * God knows I… try!
 * Though I'm frightened and shy!
 * And despite the impression I give I confess that I'm living a lie…
 * Because I'm actually terribly timid, and horribly shy…
 * Though a lady may be dripping with glamour,
 * as often as not she'll stumble and stammer when suddenly confronted with romance.
 * And she's likely to fall of her face
 * when she's finally face-to-face with a pair of pants.
 * Quite often the lady's not as hard to please as she seems.
 * Quite often she'll settle for something less than the man of her dreams…
 * I'm going fishing for a mate!
 * Knights:
 * She's going fishing for a mate…
 * Winnifred:
 * I'm going to look in ev'ry brook!
 * Knights:
 * She's going to look in ev'ry brook…
 * Winnifred:
 * But how must longer must I wait with baited breath and hook?
 * (Knights dance while Winnifred watches)
 * Winnifred:
 * Oh! That was wonderful!
 * And that is why, though 'm painfully shy,
 * I'm insane to know which sir… you, sir?
 * Knights:
 * Not I, sir!
 * Winnifred:
 * Then who, sir? Where, sir, and when, sir, I couldn't be tenser
 * So let's get this done, man get on with the fun, man, I am one man…
 * Knights:
 * The lady is one man…
 * Winnifred and Knights:
 * Shy!
 * So let's get this done, man get on with the fun, man, I am one man…
 * Knights:
 * The lady is one man…
 * Winnifred and Knights:
 * Shy!


 * I'm just saying. Sugarbat (talk) 00:45, 15 December 2011 (UTC)