Language of the Army

[Irina_Bol]

I’m okay, thanks, and you, Alan?
Five years ago you explained the difference between ‘under’ and ‘beneath’:

@Alan

The difference between ‘under’ and ‘beneath’ is that ‘under’ usually means lower than and ‘beneath’ often indicates that something is both under and usually not seen.

The river is under the bridge. The foundations of a house are beneath the ground.

Coming across it, I suddenly remembered the lyrics lines (which are very special for me) containing ‘beneath’:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs…

Does ‘to stand beneath the boughs’ mean ‘to stand not seen under the boughs’? Or was it just the poet’s choice?

[Alan]

Hi Irina,
Glad you are okay, me too. I think the poet is possibly suggesting you are ‘out of sight’ as well. But I think he chooses the more ‘romantic’, (in the sense of imaginative) word ‘beneath’. After all ‘beneath the stars’ is not as mundane as ‘under the stars’. By the way can I be nosey and ask what is the particular significance of these lines to you? Tell me to mind my own business if you like
X
Alan

[Irina_Bol]

Hi Alan,
Thank you. ‘Leisure’ is connected with my studies at the university. I was offered to translate this poem into Russian. It was challenging because it was my first literary translation.

[Kanol]

In Sevastopol, where I happened to do my service, there was so many military officers and patrols that you would begin your salute just as soon as you disembark and complete it only back on board.