and p.s. Grammar mavens, weigh in. Is it purple mountain's majesty (majesty possessed by the purple mountains), or purple mountains majesty (majesty modifying mountains, poetic but not making particularly good sense), or purple mountain majesties (purple and mountain are both abjectives modifying majesties)? or there are more ways you could interpret it. We grammar types get off on this stuff, you know. According to wikipedia, it is the third option, but I've never sung it that way so I'm changing it to whatever the heck I want.
I've always thought it was the first one, the majesty belonging to the purple mountains, but then I'm kind of a crappy American, and can't carry a tune in a bucket, so I never sing along.
ReplyDeleteWater falls!!! (Great family photo too!)
In an hour I can drive to the beach, that's gorgeous. Oh yeah, and there's some rivers around here someplace.
Julie
What's pretty here? Mimosa trees. Honeysuckle. In winter,the place where the eagles roost at sunset.
ReplyDeleteI always thought the purple mountains possessed the majesty but I'm not even sure if I spelled possessed correctly.
What do I know?
see, that's exactly what I thought, too, so I'm glad at least the three of us agree. Purple mountain's majesty. However, not a single source I checked had it written that way. Apparently the original lyrics are "purple mountain majesties," as penned by Katherine Lee Bates in 1895. But who the heck sings it that way?
ReplyDeleteLove the beach (hope to see it soon!), and love honeysuckle, too! We don't get honeysuckle around here, I remember when we were kids we used to pull the stamen through the bottom of the flower and lick the honey off. yum.
and p.s., you probably knew this, because someone had to be holding the camera, but just in case, that's dh, MadMax and Nell in the photo.
ReplyDelete