Today is William Blake‘s birthday — English poet, painter and printmaker. So, in honour of his birth in 1757, I wanted to share the well-known opening stanza of his poem, Auguries of Innocence. But first things first…
au·gu·ry (noun)
- A sign of what will happen in the future; an omen
- The work of an augur; the interpretation of omens
Happy Birthday, Mr. Blake!
»Don’t miss previous {word wednesday} posts: pluck & quiddity.
→Kindle-editions available here: Auguries of Innocence and Webster’s Dictionary.←
Love this word… Now to figure out how to use it when the only person I am in the presence of is a 4 year old today… #nannyproblems :)
hilarious. love #nannyproblems. :)
Wow, this gives me goosebumps. I love the idea of future innocence, and the idea of actually getting to *choose* innocence (if that is possible) when we are older.
Augur, augur, augur. Going to fix that one in my memory. For some reason, the word sounds like part of a ship to me!
Perhaps something to do w/ childlike wonder, seeing the world as if for the first time, letting go of time/space/the worries of the world, to stop and be still before our Maker…
I love new words. Especially ones with such great meanings…now to try to use augury in a sentence today…I also love the idea of “auguries of innocence” because it implies future innocence, and innocence is something usually seen as past.
i was thinking along those lines, too; but ‘omen’ has more of a negative connotation, so i was curious as to what was meant. is the innocence good? will its coming be good?