We are in the midst of April, the National Poetry Month. So it seemed natural for Huffington Post to team up with the Poetry Foundation to ask five poets to choose the most beautiful word in the English language.
There was some discussion (inconclusive and unconvincing) as to: Is it the sound of the word or the meaning/associations of the word that make it beautiful? I think, when you boil it down to the one most beautiful word, it has to be both. At the opposite end, "skunk" would probably be considered ugly both for sound and association.
Five poets, none of whom I had ever heard of, each chose one word as the most beautiful. I
was baffled at the results: "a," "belittle," "clarity," "dusk," and "ever." Only one, "dusk," comes
close. The others are just strange or miss the mark entirely, in my opinion.
Here's my choice, which I think is the perfect combination of beautiful sound and beautiful associations: "Lullaby."
You got a favorite?
Ralph
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