Talk:Carmen Possum

Analysis - Title [of the poem]

Please stop me if I’m wrong!

The article as it stands is hesitant - arguably contradictory - on the grammaticality of the poem’s title. It declares

 carmen possum .. is grammatically incorrect

but continues immediately to say

 The .. interpretation, satisfying .. the requirements of syntax, would be "I am capable of song" 

and diverts into detail mentioning

 English phrasal verb[s].

(Along the way it reduces clarity further with a weasel phrase,

 if only barely).

To me, though, the title is much simpler. My Latin is of rather less than industrial strength, but if I’m right the title’s immediately obvious meaning (though amusingly clumsy) is “I am capable of a song” (or just “I can sing”!)

Similarly, the actual meaning as quickly disclosed by the body of the poem is not complicated. The Latin title means “Possum Song” (with ‘possum‘ borrowed from English, of course). Again, the Latin phrase is comically clumsy, using a noun to describe a noun. (English does this freely, as in a phrase like ‘‘road wheel’’; but in Latin it’s unusual and awkward.) But it’s clear.

So I’d rewrite the whole section:

 The title is comically clumsy Latin.  At first glance, its meaning is "I am capable of song", though the ordinary way of saying that would be canere possum.  Instead the body text quickly reveals ("Up they jump to see the varmin / Of the which this is the carmen") another reading, "Possum Song" (with the noun possum, borrowed from English, in apposition as a description).

And I plan to do that! Like I say, please stop me if I’m wrong!!

- SquisherDa (talk) 00:31, 30 September 2019 (UTC)