Solemn High Mass

Famous quotes containing the words solemn, high and/or mass:

    ‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
    Nor customary suits of solemn black,
    ...
    Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
    That can denote me truly.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    I asked my mother for fifty cents
    To see the elephant jump the fence.
    He jumped so high he reached the sky,
    And didn’t get back till the Fourth of July.
    —Unknown. I Asked My Mother (l. 1–4)

    Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.
    W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)