Amira's hair

[Ros’ Haruo]

Who was (or is) Amira? Reading the Shenandoah Harmony on the bus this morning I ran across the line "the tangles of Amira's hair" in a Watts text, and I am completely at a loss to interpret it.

[Warren Steel]

>Who was (or is) Amira? Reading the Shenandoah Harmony on the bus this morning I ran across the line "the tangles of Amira's hair" in a Watts text, and I am completely at a loss to interpret it.

   This is in the tune CONVERSE; the text is from Isaac Watts's Lyric Poems where the reference typifies the worldly intercourse that loses its luster to the converted poet. It seems to be a reference to Milton's Lycidas:
   "To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
   Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair,"
but the good Doctor evidently substituted the more euphonious Amira
for the mythological nymph or the historical Corinthian prostitute.

--
Warren Steel                     mu...@olemiss.edu
Professor of Music       University of Mississippi
        http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/

[Wade Kotter]

The Milton reference sounds very plausible to me, replacing Neaera with Amira. Amira is a very common Arabic & Hebrew female given name. It is the feminine version of Amir (or Emir) and means rich women/princess. It is a fairly common name for female characters in operas, plays and other literary works of the period with a Middle Eastern/Turkish theme. I suspect Watts was familiar with this name from sources of this type when he apparently used it as a substitute for Neaera. In some of these works, the Amira character is portrayed as a seductress, perhaps making it an even more appropriate choice in this context.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

---

From: Warren Steel <mu...@olemiss.edu>
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2013 5:52 AM
Subject: [fasola-discussions] RE: Amira's hair

--
--
Google Groups "Fasola Discussions" Email List
FAQ: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8623821/Fasola-Discussions-FAQ.html
 
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Fasola Discussions" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to fasola-discussi...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[invisibl...@gmail.com]

Ha, we love this line, and the whole poem, in my singing area.  It will probably appear in the next church hymnal we put out, but without this eighth verse.  The verse is excellent, but this line and the one about "tales of wanton love" would be just a little awkward to sing in a congregation.  I like to imagine that Amira was a real person, but the Milton reference provided by Dr. Steel is illuminating.  As he says, Watts did not publish this as a hymn per se, but a poem, so I'm guessing church use wasn't his intention when he wrote some of these lines.  The poem strikes me as a fascinating glimpse of Watts the young man, one I'm sure other young men can relate to.  

Matt Bell

[Gillian Inksettet]

It's a reference to feminine wiles. Amira was a princess. 

Sent from my iPod

On 2013-08-30, at 1:14 AM, Ros’ Haruo <rosh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Who was (or is) Amira? Reading the Shenandoah Harmony on the bus this morning I ran across the line "the tangles of Amira's hair" in a Watts text, and I am completely at a loss to interpret it.

--

[Ros’ Haruo]

Thanks, Gillian. The context makes the general reference to feminine wiles pretty obvious; but princess of what? A literary princess or an historical one? If I had to guess I would have thought "princesses of Araby", taking "Amira" for a feminine counterpart of "Ameer" or what is now more usually spelt "Emir". Or possibly the grandmother of the Amanda who died in the middle of the book...

--
Leland Bryant Ross aka Ros' Haruo (呂須•春男)
Delegito en Seattle, Universala Esperanto-Asocio
My Hymn Blog | Mia Himna Blogo — The Seattle Esperanto Society
Miaj Vikipediaj Kreaĵoj — Lernu.Net — Fremont Baptist Church

[Ros’ Haruo]

Okay, so generic Semitic princess. I would probably have used "Delila[h]'s", even though the guy in the story was the one famous for his hair.

On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 8:00 AM, Gillian Inksetter <gil...@inksetter.com> wrote:

I should say that this a vague recollection from a long-ago Old Testament lecture :-)

[Gillian Inksetter]

I should say that this a vague recollection from a long-ago Old Testament lecture :-)

[Gillian Inksetter]

I think Amira is Hebrew for princess, not referring to a particular princess :-)

[Will Fitzgerald]

Here is the poem in its totality (Corrected from http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA123&id=aRIDAAAAQAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false)

Converse with Christ

I'm tir'd with Visits, Modes, and Forms, 

And Flatteries paid to Fellow-Worms; 

Their Conversation cloys; 

Their vain Amours, and empty Stuff: 

But I can ne'er enjoy enough 

Of thy best Company, my LORD, thou Life of all my Joys. 

When he begins to tell his Love, 

Through every Vein my Passions move, 

The Captives of his Tongue: 

In midnight Shades, on frosty Ground, 

I could attend the pleasing Sound,

Nor should I feel December cold, nor think the Darkness long.

There, while I here my Saviour-God 

Count o'er the Sins (a heavy Load) 

He bore upon the Tree, 

Inward I blush with secret Shame, 

And weep, and love, and bless the Name

That knew not Guilt nor Grief his own, but bare it all for me.

Next he describes the Thorns he wore, 

And talks his bloody Passion o'er, 

Till I am drown'd in Tears: 

Yet with the Sympathetic Smart 

There's a strange Joy beats round my Heart; 

The cursed Tree has Blessings in't, my sweetest Balm it bears.

I hear the glorious Sufferer tell, 

How on his Cross he vanquish'd Hell, 

And all the Powers beneath: 

Transported and inspir'd, my Tongue 

Attempts his Triumphs in a Song;

How has the Serpent lost his Sling, and where's thy Victory, Death? 

But when he shews his Hands and Heart, 

With those dear Prints of dying Smart, 

He sets my Soul on Fire: 

Not the beloved John could rest 

With more Delight upon that Breast,

Nor Thomas pry into those Wounds with more intense Desire.

Kindly he opens me his Ear, 

And bids me pour my Sorrow there, 

And tell him all my Pains: 

Thus while I ease my burden'd Heart, 

In every Woe he bears a Part,

His Arms embrace me, and his Hand my drooping Head sustains.

Fly from my Thoughts, all human Things, 

And sporting Swains, and fighting Kings, 

And Tales of wanton Love. 

My Soul disdains that little Snare

The Tangles of Amira's Hair;

Thine Arms, my GOD, are sweeter Bands, nor can my Heart remove.

Will

[Will Fitzgerald]

I am no so sure that Watts is referring to avoiding "feminine wiles." 

The narrator is tired of the "vain Amours" of "Fellow-Worms" and their "empty Stuff." He wants to fly from "sporting Swains" and "fighting Kings."

The narrator is speaking against empty entertainments, such as romantic novels and entertainments, in which themes and expressions such as "tangles of Amira's hair," suitors and battles are prevalent (see Wade's note). 

Secondarily, I think it likely that he is echoing the line from Milton's Lycidas. I don't think this is inconsistent with the above, but I think he made the name change not so much to make the poem scan better, but because he wanted a romantic, foreign-sounding, name. 

We're familiar with this thought from 280 (Westwood) in the 1991 edition and Cooper books, which is set with three verses from Watts's poem:

Far from my thoughts, vain world, begone,

Let my religious hours alone:

Fain would my eyes my Savior see;

I wait a visit, Lord, from Thee.

My heart grows warm with holy fire,

And kindles with a pure desire:

Come, my dear Jesus, from above,

And feed my soul with heav’nly love.

The trees of life immortal stand

In fragrant rows at Thy right hand;

And in sweet murmurs, by their side,

Rivers of bliss perpetual glide.

Haste, then, but with a smiling face,

And spread the table of Thy grace;

Bring down a taste of fruit divine,

And cheer my heart with sacred wine.

Bless’d Jesus, what delicious fare!

How sweet Thy entertainments are!

Never did angels taste above

Redeeming grace, and dying love.

Hail, great Immanuel, all divine!

In Thee Thy Father’s glories shine;

Thou brightest, sweetest, fairest One,

That eyes have seen or angels known.

[Will Fitzgerald]

One small correction. Let me know if you see any other errors.

Also, this is from Isaac Watts's Horæ lyricæ. Poems, chiefly of the lyric kind, from 1705 (says Wikipedia). 

How has the Serpent lost his Sting, and where's thy Victory, Death?