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Google, and the religious significance of "operators" in poetry

by Guy J Kewney | posted on 25 August 2006


I invoked Google because I needed the full text of "To Autumn" - a poem which begins: "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness."

The reason for my interest in Keats was personal. A friend booked a local authority room for a "naming ceremony" for a child. It's supposed to be a way of doing something a bit more than just filling in the forms. So - poetry.

"No, no," said the Surrey bureaucrats. "It includes the word 'bless' - which makes it a religious ceremony."

Here's the full text:

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness! 
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; 
Conspiring with him how to load and bless 
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

Using FireFox, and ignoring the idiocy of local Government officials, I typed into the Google toolbar. In FireFox, the toolbar starts filling in the query for you.

So I hadn't got beyond "mists" before it was offering me a one-click option on "SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness!" - which, of course, I clicked on.

Google instantly responded:

"The "AND" operator is unnecessary -- we include all search terms by default."


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