Welcome to the English 376
CURSE PAGE
This page encourages you to get it off your chest and
get revenge the old-fashioned, non-violent way. Cursing has been
part of the literary tradition of many cultures. In the classical
traditions of Greece and Rome, the satire incorporated the idea of cursing,
in which words have material or real effects. Satires deride a person or
practice through verbal attack, which shows the witty superiority of the
satirist over the debased subject of the satire. English letters of the
Restoration and eighteenth-century are famous for their satires, which
took on stupidity, bad poetry, women, make-up, and the entire city of London,
quite a noxious potpourri of venom. Cursing as a concept is close to the
idea of a speech
act, but it differs in that it is uniformly negative and speaks to
the desire for power over another. The curse believes in the power of language
and the efficacy of words to a mystical extreme. The classic curse does
not actually call on the gods or a higher powers to accomplish the curse,
but vests power in the speaker's words to damn or condemn the hated object.
Please join us in our little therapy exercise. Surely there's someone
in your life who deserves a curse. No names, please, just curses. Send
your curse and your name (without it, you won't get the extra credit) to
misty@utk.edu.
Happy cursing-feel the rush of your own words!
1. May you be damned to 1000 years of calculus, interrupted only by
the occasional verse of "Livin' La Vida Loca."
-Josh Bethea
2. May your enemies be toads and you the flies they feast upon.
-Rachel Warren
3. May you eternally walk the streets of UT wearing nothing but a Gators
shirt.
-Martha Burris
4. May you go through life wearing pants that are too tight, having boogers
hang out of your nose, and walking around with toilet paper on your shoes
because you never have a friend who will tell you how you REALLY look.
-J.J. Jenkins