English poetry (I)

choi

Two weeks ago, I started reading English poems for the first time in my life.

(1) Pease Porridge Hot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pease_Porridge_Hot#Lyrics

Note:
(a) A commentator in recent years said most English-speaking people do not know what pease porridge is, though they know this poem by heart.
(b) Pea. Online Etymology Dictionary, undated.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/pea

(2) Go Down Moses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Down_Moses

Note: refrain. Encyclopaedia Britannica, undated
https://www.britannica.com/art/refrain
(" Three common refrains are the chorus, recited by more than one person; the burden, in which a whole stanza is repeated; and the repetend, in which the words are repeated erratically throughout the poem. A refrain may be an exact repetition, or it may exhibit slight variations in meaning or form as in the following excerpt from 'Jesse James' ")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James_(folk_song)

choi

(c) Alfred Pollard (ed), Works of Robert Herrick. revised edition, vol I. London: Lawrence & Bullen (1898), page 175
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22421/22421-h/i.html#p349
(at age 175: "349 HER LEGS[:] Fain would I kiss my Julia's dainty leg, Which is as white and hairless as an egg")

Note:
(a)
(i) That is the entire poem.
(ii) fain (adj; adv)
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fain
(b) The URL indicates it is a Project Gutenberg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gutenberg
(c)
(i) The English surname Pollard was "nickname for a person with a large or unusually shaped head, from Middle English [noun] poll head (Middle Low German polle (top of the) head’) + the pejorative suffix -ard."  Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford University Press.

An example in modern English: poll tax.
(ii) Robert Herrick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Herrick_(poet)
(1591 – 1674; English(man); "Herrick never married, and none of his love-poems seem to connect directly with any one woman")
(A) The top graphic in this Wiki page says, "Robert Herrick, 1904 illustration based on Hesperides impression."

The next graphic in the same page says, "Title page of Hesperides (1648)" which displayed Herrick's likeness.
(B) title page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_page
(C) Labours of Hercules
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labours_of_Hercules
(section 3.11 Eleventh labour: Golden Apples of the Hesperides)
(D) Hesperides
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesperides
(section 1 Etymology)

I will rephrase the section 1 Etymology: from Ancient Greek noun feminine hespéra (Latin noun masculine vesper evening).

ἑσπέρα (transliteration: hespéra; noun feminine; "from [Ancient Greek adjective] ἕσπερος (hésperos, “of evening"): "evening"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ἑσπέρα

A definition in
The classic Greek dictionary : in two parts: Greek-English and English-Greek. New York: Hinds, Noble & Eldredge (1901), page 275
https://books.google.com/books?i ... q=greek+dictionary+ἕσπερος&source=bl&ots=Hocwop36NR&sig=_wlUvuifO6ZDquYZVHF7rwjFAAM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJovPb25reAhUNO60KHbWRC1A4ChDoATADegQIBBAB#v=onepage&q=greek%20dictionary%20ἕσπερος&f=false
(ἙΣΠΕʹΡΑ ἡ, Lat. VESPERA, fem. of the Adj. ἕσπερος:  I (sub. ὥρᾱ), evening")

What does ἡ mean? See Ancient Greek grammar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_grammar
(section 2.1 Nouns, section 2.1.1 Gender: "The gender of a noun is shown by the definite article (the word ὁ, ἡ, τό ([transliteration:] ho, hē, tó) 'the') which goes with it")

Without the diacritic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic
(derived from Ancient Greek that means "to distinguish")
at the top, η itself is a Greek letter. See Greek alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_alphabet
("[uppercase] Η [lowercase] η  eta")

choi

(4) "Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

Note:
(a)
(i) Halloween Poem: 'Double, Double, Toil and Trouble.' undated
https://www.panmacmillan.com/blo ... le-toil-and-trouble
("From Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I")

The Italics are part of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The lyrics of witches' incantation is in roman type.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_type
(ii)
(A) About About Pan Macmillan. undated
("Pan Macmillan UK is one of the largest general book publishers in the UK, with imprints including Macmillan, Mantle, Pan, Picador, Boxtree, Sidgwick & Jackson, Bello, Tor, Kingfisher, Macmillan Children’s Books, Two Hoots, Bluebird, Campbell Books, Macmillan New Writing and Macmillan Digital Audio. Pan Macmillan is part of Macmillan Publishers International Limited. * * * Pan Macmillan is part of the Macmillan Group, which operates in over 70 countries worldwide. * * * In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, Macmillan publishes under the Pan Macmillan nam")
(B) Pan Books
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Books
("Pan Books began as an independent publisher, established in 1944 by [Englishman] Alan Bott, previously known for his memoirs of his experiences as a flying ace in the First World War. The Pan Books logo, showing the ancient Greek god Pan playing pan-pipes, was designed by Mervyn Peake")
(b)
(i) With modifications, the song was performed by Frog Choir in the 2004 film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
(ii)
(A) "Double" means twice the amount -- of what, it does not say. Could be ingredients, toil or trouble (see definition mext, which is what all say: effort). Toil can be a noun or a verb -- meaning hardworking or work hard.
(B) trouble (n): "an effort made : PAINS  <took the trouble to do it right>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trouble

(c) Macbeth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth
(prophecy from a trio of witches)

(d) Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: Meaning Then. Shmoop, undated
https://www.shmoop.com/shakespea ... e/meaning-then.html
("usually Shakespeare writes in iambic pentameter, but he switches it up here. The witches' lines are written in something called trochaic tetrameter. * * * A trochee is the opposite of an iamb. It's an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable. It sounds like DUM-da. For those of you out there who know your Latin roots, you might know that 'tetra' means 'four.' So 'trochaic tetrameter' is a kind of rhythmic pattern that consist of four trochees per line")
(a) iambic pentameter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter
(section 1        Meter, section 1.1 Meter)
(b) meter
(noun 1; First Known Use  before the 12th century; from Latin metrum, from Greek metron measure, meter): rhythm
(noun 3; First Known Use 1797; French mètre, from Greek metron measure): metric system
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meter
("Did You Know?")