Word for the Wise : Swan song
March 9th, 2010
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Author: Everyone knows that swan song is a figurative term meaning "a farewell appearance or a final act or pronouncement (especially the last work of an author or composer)." But we'd bet not many folks know that the swan song fable --and it is a fable -- has been around for such a long, long time.
Plato gave swans the gift of prophecy, observing that "when they perceive that they must die, having sung all their life long, do then sing more lustily than ever."
A 16th century madrigal saw things slightly differently. Its lines describe "The silver swan, who living had no note/When death approached unlocked her silent throat;/Leaning her breast against the reedy shore/Thus sung her first and last, and sung no more."
William Shakespeare
Plato gave swans the gift of prophecy, observing that "when they perceive that they must die, having sung all their life long, do then sing more lustily than ever."
A 16th century madrigal saw things slightly differently. Its lines describe "The silver swan, who living had no note/When death approached unlocked her silent throat;/Leaning her breast against the reedy shore/Thus sung her first and last, and sung no more."
William Shakespeare
(who was himself called the sweet swan of Avon, according to Ben Jonson) wrote both of "[making] a swanlike end/Fading in music" and also about "play[ing] the swan and [dying] in music."
A few hundred years later, in 1821, Lord Byron made his poetic plea to be placed "on Sunium's marble steep/[where]...swanlike [he could] sing and die." In 1828, only months before his death, Franz Schubert published a series entitled Schwanengesang (literally swan song), but they were not in fact his final works.
So when did the actual phrase swan song first appear in English? Credit belongs to historian, essayist, and Germanophile Thomas Carlyle, who translated the phrase from the German in 1831.
Send your questions our way. Our e-mail address is wftw@aol.com. Our street address is Word for the Wise, 318 Central Avenue, Albany, New York 12206.
Shawn Dudley is our audio engineer. Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and CD's including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.
A few hundred years later, in 1821, Lord Byron made his poetic plea to be placed "on Sunium's marble steep/[where]...swanlike [he could] sing and die." In 1828, only months before his death, Franz Schubert published a series entitled Schwanengesang (literally swan song), but they were not in fact his final works.
So when did the actual phrase swan song first appear in English? Credit belongs to historian, essayist, and Germanophile Thomas Carlyle, who translated the phrase from the German in 1831.
Send your questions our way. Our e-mail address is wftw@aol.com. Our street address is Word for the Wise, 318 Central Avenue, Albany, New York 12206.
Shawn Dudley is our audio engineer. Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and CD's including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.
Posted in Dictionary
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Tags: Swan song, the gift of prophecy, the swan song fable, Word For The Wise