Word: mirth
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Wharton's books, is pursued with neo-Jamesian traps and snares, rather than less subtle hounds and horn. Her methods have not kept pace with her times, her subject matter, her ambition as social observer. Narration by implication, which seemed wise and successful in The House of Mirth, has, after the pioneering of Virginia Woolf and others, a feeble gait, a corseted carriage...
This unfortunate woman who sits in the sideshow of Ringling Brothers "between Fat Lady and Armless Wonder" and "affects white lace hats, woolen mittens and high laced shoes" has a story which is far from mirth-provoking. Could it have been written up for you by O. Henry, it would have provoked tears rather than laughter. The facts are as follows...
Tessa fell in love at her one brief glimpse of the sleek visitor. During the two nights and a day that he was closeted with Rennie, Tessa the Seductive, the Disdainful, was even reduced to writing him poetry and in her abandon asked Toes, who rolled with mirth, what rhymed with "spaniel." That was why Kim sarcastically called him the Dark Gentleman of the Sonnets and part of the reason that Boris nearly ripped out his silky black throat; would have, too, but for the Savory Legs (Italian gardener). The Dark Gentleman flaunted his scars to the French poodle next...
...forwarded a contract to George H. ("Babe") Ruth, basking temporarily in the Klieg-light of Hollywood. Mr. Ruth examined the document, laughed. These club owners will have their jokes. They had sent him a contract which offered a mere $52,000 in return for his 192.7 efforts. Controlling his mirth, Mr. Ruth expressed a desire to be absolutely fair in the matter. He would compromise for a small fraction of his actual worth- whatever that might be. In short he would accept a contract calling for $100,000 a year...
...humor is limited and minds even of jesters will grow tired. But may we offer a suggestion? It is not wise to make a clock tick backwards. The past cannot be idly conjured up. It would be better, perhaps, to reiterate time-worn subjects, and to wring out mirth from the present at the expense of other colleges, cities, and societies, than to revert to the past, and bring to light only stuffed caricatures...