The root of the word has to do with the paling of the sky at dawn - "alba" is white / whitening in the sense of pale clear light. There is a related "crosswordese" term, ALB, a pure-white vestment worn by worship leaders in formal Christian settings.
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear
I knew the word as part of the title of a rather well-known work for oboe & orchestra by Poulenc. I had utterly no idea about the word's meaning..
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A E Housman -- the great and wonderful British poet -- wrote a collection called "A Shropshire Lad" that included this gem; my question here is -- would this also be considered an aubade?
REVEILLE
Wake: the silver dusk returning
Up the beach of darkness brims,
And the ship of sunrise burning
Strands upon the eastern rims.
Wake: the vaulted shadow shatters,
Trampled to the floor it spanned,
And the tent of night in tatters
Straws the sky-pavilioned land.
Up, lad, up, 'tis late for lying:
Hear the drums of morning play;
Hark, the empty highways crying
"Who'll beyond the hills away?"
Towns and countries woo together,
Forelands beacon, belfries call;
Never lad that trod on leather
Lived to feast his heart with all.
Up, lad: thews that lie and cumber
Sunlit pallets never thrive;
Morns abed and daylight slumber
Were not meant for man alive.
Clay lies still, but blood's a rover;
Breath's a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad: when the journey's over
There'll be time enough to sleep.
Sure, Deb, wish me a wonderful start to my day by by gifting me with one more reason to prolong my hours at my laptop. In 2014, I think, I subscribed to the crosswords and slowly worked up to doing all seven in the week. Not satisfied with this, I have been doing about ten to fifteen a week from the archives. A few months ago I started to check out the Wordplay column now and then and have begun to read the comments on occasion as well when something puzzles, or mildly irritates, me about a crossword. And now another new column which led me to click on Donne's poem which led me to click on the poem guide. all very informative, but minutes I could be using to do other things.
Truly, thanks. I had two different inflections of "thanks" in my head as I typed the word. :)
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Hi Peter,
There are other things to do? :)
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An Aubade is a morning love song and a serenade is an evening one. Aubade is from the french "aube" which mean dawn.
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Merci beaucoup!!
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That was what I thought, but when no one else mentioned it I thought I had it wrong, and when I looked up serenade, it didn't say that. I should have researched further, but glad to see it here.
Is this special post a first?
Anyway, "aubade" was -- BION -- a gimme. I knew it was a poem but not the connect to dawn.
Thanks for the visuals!!
Hi Dr. W,
It's a new series, but we've done three or four of them. They usually go up on the news section after they've been in the queue for a while.
Here's last week's piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/crosswords/what-the-heck-is-that-saze...
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That's great -- thank you!!
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As I just learned by googling "Aubade" at work, it is also the name of a company that makes lingerie. Thanks, Neville and Doug.
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Given the 1678 definition from E. Phillips New World of Words (within the OED entry shown in the article), as "music...playd under any ones Chamber window in the morning," I think of an aubade as being a morning counterpart to a serenade (sung or played at evening).
Here is the same YouTube link I posted on the daily posting for Friday's puzzle:
Prokofiev, Aubade from the ballet Romeo and Juliet
https://youtu.be/EaH9l6PTf2c
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"Aubade" is the title of arguably Philip Larkin's greatest poem, a frightening contemplation of mortality:
"The sure extinction that we travel to
And shall be lost in always. Not to be here,
Not to be anywhere,
And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48422/aubade-56d229a6e2f07
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So Larkin wasn't a morning person either.
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Like to the Larkin at break of day arising...
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