Recently, I made two tie-dye shirts with literary quotations on them. One is all shades of purple with an Emily Dickinson quotation: “I’m Nobody” on the front and “Who are You?” on the back. The other has two of my favorite moments from “Finnegans Wake”. But they’re unique shirts, not for sale on Etsy or anywhere!
On the front of the FW shirt is “Here Comes Everybody” (32.18-19), one of my favorite versions of Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker’s many names. I didn’t plan it that way, but it also makes a nice contrast to Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody”.
On the back of the FW shirt is “meanderthalltale” (19.25), one of my favorite words in the Wake, and one of the many words or phrases that seems to characterize the Wake itself. One of my first 111-word texts was about that passage:
James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" is a "meandertale" (18.22) in a "claybook" (18.17) as well as an "allaphbed" (18.18). This meandering tale made out of alphabets, printed in a book, and reaching all the way back to stories originally told on clay tablets in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley adds a valley to its name to become a "meanderthalltale" (19.25) and incorporates many of the tales of human origins that have been generated for millennia. All of these tales, including the paleontological story of human origins in which the Neanderthals found in the Neander Valley play their part, are treated as tall tales, and their claims to truth are repeatedly exposed as violence-prone exaggerations. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 16 January 2020)
What I'd really like to find -- but probably only in a dream -- is old examples of poetry as the stuff that is being sold e.g. a miniature mantelpiece altar carved with George Herbert's 'The Altar'
Recently, I made two tie-dye shirts with literary quotations on them. One is all shades of purple with an Emily Dickinson quotation: “I’m Nobody” on the front and “Who are You?” on the back. The other has two of my favorite moments from “Finnegans Wake”. But they’re unique shirts, not for sale on Etsy or anywhere!
Perfect personalised merch! What were the FW quotations?
On the front of the FW shirt is “Here Comes Everybody” (32.18-19), one of my favorite versions of Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker’s many names. I didn’t plan it that way, but it also makes a nice contrast to Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody”.
On the back of the FW shirt is “meanderthalltale” (19.25), one of my favorite words in the Wake, and one of the many words or phrases that seems to characterize the Wake itself. One of my first 111-word texts was about that passage:
James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" is a "meandertale" (18.22) in a "claybook" (18.17) as well as an "allaphbed" (18.18). This meandering tale made out of alphabets, printed in a book, and reaching all the way back to stories originally told on clay tablets in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley adds a valley to its name to become a "meanderthalltale" (19.25) and incorporates many of the tales of human origins that have been generated for millennia. All of these tales, including the paleontological story of human origins in which the Neanderthals found in the Neander Valley play their part, are treated as tall tales, and their claims to truth are repeatedly exposed as violence-prone exaggerations. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 16 January 2020)
I'm very fond of 'meandertale' too!
Of course, using poetry to sell stuff isn't new, witness Rabbie Burns's love of fags:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/9b/a9/9d9ba903eecb0ba3723f6c4bb798d0c5.jpg
And The Lake Isle was long ago used by Bord Failte to sell holidays in Ireland, but I can't find the old newspaper/magazine ads online.
What I'd really like to find -- but probably only in a dream -- is old examples of poetry as the stuff that is being sold e.g. a miniature mantelpiece altar carved with George Herbert's 'The Altar'
That's probably a dream. Meanwhile, here are some lovely (well, maybe not lovely) old postcards:
https://www.postcardsireland.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/LWAV-0027.jpg?itok=gJuKI6e_
https://rlv.zcache.com/yeats_the_stolen_child_victorian_postcard-r4d96d8477ac54cc18b0c80cbbf9e1722_ucbjp_630.jpg?view_padding=[285%2C0%2C285%2C0]
And something a little more 'modern':
https://atomicmugs.com/cdn/shop/products/DynamicImageHandler_dab5efb2-7933-4c7d-8b84-95e48f32584a_800x.png?v=1542764726