Eliot's Gerontion is pretty good. And thanks to Pound, TWL is pretty impressive. Read it as a War Poem. The Peace that Passeth Understanding was what Keynes said about the Treaty of Versailles. "Rat's Alley" was a WW slang for the trenches. Carrol
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Michael Smith Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2013 7:16 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] sailing poem
Ole Idaho Ezra Pound, the Village Explainer according to Gertrude Stein. Not my favorite poet (though *much* better than that insufferable bore Eliot). But he wrote some good stuff.
Beginning of Canto I :
And then went down to the ship, Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and We set up mast and sail on that swart ship, Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also Heavy with weeping, so winds from sternward Bore us out onward with bellying canvas...
He had read his Homer, and I do believe he might have been on a boat at some point. 'Godly sea' and 'bellying canvas' are both first-rate, though canvas is of course an anachronism. ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk