[Vwoolf] "What a lark! What a plunge!" (Could Woolf have had the bird in mind?)

[Stephen Barkway]

As opposed to the opening page of To the Lighthouse, where the ‘lark’ is definitely a bird!

-----Original Message-----
From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of Jeremy Hawthorn via Vwoolf
Sent: 29 June 2020 09:10
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] "What a lark! What a plunge!" (Could Woolf have had the bird in mind?)

I agree that the dominant meaning of "lark" here is "a bit of fun." 
Etymologically this is unconnected to lark=bird; "laiking" is Yorkshire and Lancashire dialect for playing (as opposed to working), and "lark" 
both as verb and noun is related to modern Norwegian "å leke": to play (Woolf would not have known this but Joyce might!). Partridge relates the word to ON leika and OE lācan. (Insert joke here about Lacan and the play of the signifier.)

But I have often wondered whether there might also be a hint at the bird, which is characterized by rapid ascending and descending vertical movements, hence plunging. Bird and cognates appear 20 times in the novel, and Scrope Purvis thinks that there is a touch of the bird about Clarissa - although he goes on to mention not a lark but a jay, a very different bird.

Jeremy H


On 29.06.2020 06:32, Regina Marler via Vwoolf wrote:
> Not the bird, I think. A lark, as in a bit of fun. A plunge, as in the 
> moment one dares something: plunging into adventure.
>
> All best,
>
> Regina

_______________________________________________
Vwoolf mailing list
Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf