Thanks for the article feature! I'm really happy so many people like it, and in the process have revisited or discovered great poetry :)

I updated the article a few minutes ago with a few things.
-New references. Yellow Smoke Pendant was an obvious reference to Prufrock, and I found a few more along the way like the Baradin Footman's Tags.
-Removed a few ones that were stretching it that everyone likes to seem to cite :P
-Explained some of the more obscure references that take a few stanzas.

-Also explained the reasoning for keeping in references like sunburnt, melodious, numbing, etc. When 90% of the references are distinctive turns of phrases, if the remaining JP gear just happens to reference more generic (but still flavorful) words from the poem, it's probably not a coincidence. Tier 11 had lots of new lore threads--the team could have easily made more items named after dragons or Wildhammer gryphons or Egyptian-Uldum gods or what have you. Plus if every other ilvl 359 JP boot has a clear-cut reference to a poem by Keats, Melodious Slippers probably does hint at "some melodious plot / in beechen green" instead of just being a random fun word that just happened to be in a heavily-referenced poem.

-I also tried to explain my thought process a bit better and wrote a paragraph or two on the blog, if anyone is interested :) Basically, as Wowhead's Content Manager, I'm very familiar with the database and some phrases just remind me of gear even when I'm not actively trying to focus. I'm also used to writing thorough guides and using our item filters all the time, so it was natural (although maybe insane to others), to do a search for all ilvl 346 JP gear and then quickly scan it with a poem next to me to see what else sounded familiar.

Anyway, I would love to know who was responsible for this :) Also, if anyone spots more references, feel free to leave comments. I've put in a list at the end of the blog with JP items I couldn't match up.

Reply