Wednesday, August 23, 2006

one last Masefield note


In case any of you were wondering what my weird fascination with this Masefield character is, I can tell you: it's 'Star Trek'!

Masefield is one of the only poets mentioned by name in the 'Star Trek' universe, specifically in the much-maligned 'Star Trek V' when Kirk quotes from a line of the poem herein posted. Kirk quotes the line, McCoy misidentifies it as Melville, and Spock corrects him with Masefield.

Now be on your guard, fellow Trek-geeks! Tell me this:

1. 'Star Trek V' is the first time Masefield is named in Star Trek, but it's not the first time Kirk REFERENCES the poet - who can tell me the other time?

2. Who can tell me three other poets mentioned by name in 'Star Trek'? Excluding Shakespeare, of course, and also excluding non-human poets, ya frickin nerds ...

You can draw from the movies or any of the series, and the first person to get 1 and 2 gets a free book!


(and also, for those of you who seem intent on emailing me privately about every post: feel free to actually post a comment for all to see! Much as I like all the new friends I'm making, this IS supposed to be a place where I talk and you all talk too, right? So don't be bashful ...)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

1.
Kirk quoted the same poem in "The Omega Glory" (season 2).

2.
In the NexGen episode where all crew members lose their memories, Riker finds an inscribed (by Deanna) copy of Keats in his bedroom, but proceeds to nail the new ensign nonetheless.

The muse in the Deep Space 9's episode "The Muse" claimed to have inspired Catullus.

Janeway once lent the copy of the Inferno she got from her fiancée to Chakotay.

-Jeff E.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Jeff, you've impressed me in many ways in the past, but with this, you have gone in a new direction.

Then there's the time that Picard quoted Moby Dick in the full-length Borg movie, but I guess even though Melivlle WAS a poet, he was quoting a novel, so no soap. And he quoted it incorrectly anyway.

John C.

Anonymous said...

Carrie just mentioned that Beowulf is mentioned in a Voyager episode. I assume that doesn't count as a specific POET, but it's worth a mention.

-Jeff E.

steve said...

We have a winner, ladies and gentlemen! Your free book is on its way (you didn't think you'd get to PICK the book, did you? Silly boy!)!

Anonymous said...

Oh my. If my book is already on its way then even subtle hints are futile. Good thing it's probably a great novel about baseball!

-Jeff E.