Journey the sunshine incredible – Wikipedia
English-language idiom
To “journey the sunshine incredible” is to bounce nimbly or calmly to music. The origin of the phrase is attributed to John Milton.[1][2]
Historical past[edit]
This phrase advanced over time. Its origin is attributed to Milton’s 1645 poem L’Allegro,[1][3][4]
which incorporates strains addressed to Euphrosyne—one of many Three Graces of Greek mythology:[5]
Com, and journey it as ye go
On the sunshine fantastick toe,
In Milton’s use the phrase “journey” means to “dance nimbly” and “incredible” suggests “extraordinarily fancy”. “Mild incredible” refers back to the phrase toe, and “toe” refers to a dancer’s “footwork”. “Toe” has since disappeared from the idiom, which then turns into: “journey the sunshine incredible”.[6]
A couple of years earlier than, in 1637, Milton had used the expression “gentle incredible” in reference to dancing in his masque Comus: “Come, knit arms, and beat the bottom,/In a light-weight incredible spherical.”[7]
Previous to Milton, the expression “tripping on his toe” seems in Shakespeare‘s The Tempest (1610–1611):
Earlier than you possibly can say come, and goe,
And breathe twice; and cry, so, so:
Each tripping on his Toe,
Will likely be right here with mop, and mowe.
The phrase “He did journey it / On the toe” seems within the Jacobean tune “Since Robin Hood”, set to music by Thomas Weelkes in 1608.[8]
This expression was popularized within the American tune “The Sidewalks of New York” (melody and lyrics by Charles B. Lawlor and James W. Blake) in 1894.[4] A part of the refrain:
Girls and boys collectively, me and Mamie O’Rourke
Tripped the sunshine incredible
On the sidewalks of New York.
The phrase happens in Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel, Passing, when the character Hugh Wentworth, whereas watching black and white women and men dancing collectively, chats with Irene and says, “Not having tripped the sunshine incredible with any males, I am not ready to argue the purpose.”[9]
Milton, Blake and Michelangelo[edit]
John Milton’s poem L’Allegro (1631) encourages the goddess Mirth/Euphrosyne to “journey it as ye go/On the sunshine fantastick toe”, and that poem impressed William Blake to create a watercolor, “Mirth” (1820), which illustrates that second in Milton’s poem. It’s thought that Milton’s poem might have been impressed by Michelangelo’s sculpture of Giuliano de’ Medici, which represents vita activa (energetic life).[10][11][12][5]
Syntactical critique[edit]
In a dialogue of anomalous idiomacies in a paradigm attributed to Noam Chomsky in his guide Syntactic Buildings, it’s instructed that some idioms will not be “syntactically well-formed which couldn’t be generated by a base part designed to supply well-formed deep constructions”. The examples given are the idioms “by and enormous”, “kingdom come”, and “journey the sunshine incredible”.[13] The phrase, and different examples, are thought-about “opaque as a result of it’s not possible to assemble a significant literal-scene from the formal construction. Nonetheless, these idioms may be recognised as advanced constructions quite than as holophrastic sequences. One can subsequently declare that for these expressions, the literal-scene solely exists as a extremely schematic psychological illustration: … journey the sunshine incredible is a type of tripping.”[14] An idiom is taken into account opaque when the idiom’s particular person phrases don’t reveal the which means of the expression. For instance the phrase “journey” has not retained its former which means — to “dance nimbly”.[15]
Variations and occurrences in standard tradition[edit]
- A tune titled “The Ballet Lady; or She danced on the sunshine incredible toe”, comprises the verse “Whereas she danced on her gentle incredible toe,/ Around the stage she used to go.” It was sung by Tony Pastor at his Bowery opera home, and was then revealed in 1867.[16]
That is our father who left us a very long time in the past. He was a phone man who fell in love with lengthy distances; he gave up his job with the phone firm and skipped the sunshine incredible out of city . . .[17]
- The phrase “to journey the sunshine fandango” is used as a phrase for carefree dancing in a Spanish or Latin American fandango fashion within the 1945 recording of the tune “South America”, Vitaphone Launch 1460A.[citation needed]
- Chester Himes in 1960 used a variation on the phrase: “Coloured girls and boys in ski ensembles and ballet skirts have been skating the sunshine incredible at two o’clock … “[18]
we skipped the sunshine fandango,
turned cartwheels ‘cross the ground.
I used to be feeling kinda seasick,
however the crowd referred to as out for extra…[4]
- Journey the Mild Implausible is the identify of a day present on the Australian radio station 2EARfm.[22][23]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Kirkpatrick, Betty and Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth McLaren (1999) “gentle incredible” Clichés: Over 1500 Phrases Explored and Defined Macmillan, New York, page 115, ISBN 978-0-312-19844-2
- ^ Jarvie, Gordon (2009) “Journey” Bloomsbury Dictionary of Idioms A & C Black, London, page 652, ISBN 978-1-4081-2492-5
- ^ Martin, Gary. “Trip the light fantastic”. www.phrases.org.uk.
- ^ a b c Smith, Chrysti M. (2006) “Journey the Mild Implausible” Verbivore’s Feast: Second Course: Extra Phrase & Phrase Origins Farcountry Press, Helena, Montana, page 320, ISBN 978-1-56037-404-6
- ^ a b Behrendt, Stephen C. (1975). “Vibrant Pilgrimage: William Blake’s Designs For ‘L’Allegro’ and ‘Il Penseroso’“. Milton Research. 8: 123–147. doi:10.2307/26395366. JSTOR 26395366. S2CID 248658163.
- ^ Grammarist, “Trip the light fantastic”
- ^ Milton, John. Bell, William, ed. Milton’s Comus. Macmillan and Co. New York (1891). p. 11, strains 143-144
- ^ Ezust, Emily (2009–2014). “Since Robin Hood (Anonymous, set by Thomas Weelkes”. The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- ^ Larsen, Nella. Passing. Martino Effective Books (2011) first revealed 1929. p. 60. ISBN 978-1614270003
- ^ Revard, Stella. Milton and the Tangles of Neaera’s Hair. Columbia: College of Missouri Press, 1997. P. 96. ISBN 978-0826211002
- ^ Revard, Stella P. (1986). “‘L’Allegro’ and ‘Il Penseroso’: Classical Custom and Renaissance Mythography”. PMLA. 101 (3): 338–350. doi:10.2307/462419. JSTOR 462419. S2CID 170793447.
- ^ Martina, Enna (April 2011). “The Sources and Traditions of Milton’s L’Allegro and Il Penseroso : A New Strategy”. English Research. 92 (2): 138–173. doi:10.1080/0013838X.2010.536691. S2CID 162256179.
- ^ Chafe, Wallace L. (1968). “Idiomaticity as an Anomaly within the Chomskyan Paradigm”. Foundations of Language. 4 (2): 109–127. JSTOR 25000002.
- ^ Langlotz, Andreas (2006) Idiomatic Creativity: A Cognitive-Linguistic Mannequin of Idiom-Illustration and Idiom-Variation in English John Benjamins Publishing Firm, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, page 132, ISBN 978-90-272-2370-8
- ^ “Idioms”. PASAA: Journal of Language Instructing. Quantity 12 (1976)
- ^ Tony Pastor’s 201 Bowery Songster, 1867. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, p. 9
- ^ William, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie, New Instructions (2011) p. 1-3.ISBN 978-0-8112-1894-8
- ^ Himes, Chester. All Shot Up. 1960. Pegasus 2007 p. 101. ISBN 978-1933648729
- ^ [1] All Musicals lyrics
- ^ Admin, Stereo Tales (6 October 2014). “Walking In The Rain by Grace Jones”. Stereo Tales. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ Fitzsimons, Ross. “Nightclubbing”. Hotpress. Archived from the unique on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ Beagle, The (16 August 2020). “Fifty years on: Eric Clapton”. The Beagle. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ “Programme guide”. 2earfm. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ Marillion web site, “LYRICS – Heart of Lothian”
- ^ “Tripping the Light Fantastic – Lit”. AllMusic.
- ^ Blistein, Jon. “Greta Van Fleet Search for Love Amid War on New Song ‘Heat Above'”. Rolling Stone on-line. February 10, 2021.
- ^ “Underground”. Genius. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
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