No More Learning

He was the stepbrother of Cheou-sin, last sovereign of the Yin dynasty [53:56]; Wei became so disgusted with the cruelty of his kinsman that he retired from the court and left the kingdom.
28. Chi: (Chi Tzu). Viscount of the princi? pality of Chi, 12th century B. C. Uncle of Cheou-sin, last sovereign of the Yin dynasty_ Because he protested against the practices of the emperor, Chi was put into prison.
29. Pi? kan: (Pi Kan) 12th century B. C. , uncle of Cheou-sin, last emperor of the Yin dynasty. When Pi? kan objected to the ex? cesses of Cheou-sin, the emperor had him disembowelled on the spot. Analects XVII, 16: "The Viscount of Wei retired. TheVis? count of Chi became a slave. Pikan protested and died . . . Kung? Tze said: Yin had three men (with a capital M)" [CON, 279].
tance on 4. 1,99].
28 June
1944 [Bosha, Pai,
40. Imperial Chemicals: The British chemi? cal combine. The one who went out of in- dustrials was Wm. C. Bullitt, 1891? 1967 [RO]. He became an assistant to Cordell Hull and served as ambassador to the USSR and then to France, 1936? 1941. After this he enlisted in the French army and served as a major during 1944? 1945. The implication seems to be that, as an inside wealthy Yale man, he knew the depression was coming and sold all his stocks. He is contrasted with Dorothy Pound, who sold her stocks in a munitions company not to save money but so as not to be mixed up with the killing.
? ? ? 466
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MSB note: She inherited the stock. Refused to have blood money.
41. quand . . . escalina: P, "when you come to the top of the stair" [Pur. XXVI, 146]. Part of the appeal of Arnaut Daniel. It is followed up: "In the time to come remem~ ber my pain. Then he dived back into the fire that refines them. " Eliot used the verse in the notes to The Waste Land.
42. 'haas: H, "custom, usage, character" [Peck, Pai, 1-1, 7-9; DP, Barb, 291-292].
MSB note: EP translates as gradations.
43. ming2 : C, [M4534]. Defined by Pound as the light descending from both sun and moon, thus intelligence [74:88; CON, 20]. MSB note: Distinctions in clarity means "degrees of decency in action. "
44. John Adams: [31:15].
45. Brothers Adam: Prob. Samuel Adams and John Adams, commonly known as "the brace of Adamses," as at 64/360 [EH].
46. Chung': C, [MI504], "center, balance" as in Chung Yung.
47. Micah: Hebrew prophet who flourished ca. 700 B. C. Micah 4. 5: "Everyone in the name of his god. " A passage Pound quotes in various ways: 74/435; 74/441; 74/443; 76/454; 78/479; 79/487.
48. Kumrad Koba: Joseph Stalin [74:34]. Koba, "the bear," andlor "the indomitable," [Pai, 11-2,285] was his boyhood nickname. "Kumrad" is borrowed from e. e. cum-
mings's book No Thanks. 1rme lAug. 27, 1945] , in a note about Potsdam, says Stalin disliked Churchill and his long-winded speeches. Once when Churchill was com- plaining about "Russian plundering in SQuth- eastern Europe, Stalin merely grunted; his interpreter said that he had no comment. Truman sprang up, said that he had investi- gated the British charges and was prepareq to substantiate them. Stalin twinkled point- edly and replied: "I will believe the Ameri- cans' " [po 30].
49. Winston, P. M. : Time (July 30, 1945]. Since Churchill was defeated in the election of July 26, a photograph showing him leav- ing Hitler's chancellery in this issue may have evoked the words "last appearance. "
50. e poi . . . uguale: I, "and then I asked the sister / of the little shepherdess of the hogs / and these Americans? / do they be- have well? / and she: not very well / not very well at all/ and I: Worse than the Ger- mans? / and she: the same. "
51. Lincoln Steffens: Joseph Lincoln S. , 1866-1939, an American journalist whose political speeches and writings appealed to Pound in the late 20s [19:24,25].
52. Vandenberg: Arthur Hendrick V. , 1884-1952, member of the U. S. Senate from Michigan (1928-52); he was leader of the Senate "isolationist bloc" before WWII, but later served as a U. S. delegate to the United Nations conference in San Francisco (1945).
line 351; WT, 50; Dante, Par. X, Conv. 4, Pur. XXIV; Aristotle, Politics VII, 4; Otto Eisenschiml, Why Was Lincoln Murdered? , Little, Brown, 1937; James Legge, The Shoo King, in The Chinese Classics, vol. III, 1865 (rpt. Hong Kong University Press, 1960).
Background
EP, SP, 322, 71, 323; GK, 77, 84, 105; P, 152; SR, 48; Otto Eisenschiml, In the Shadow ofLincoln's Death, New York, Wil- fred Funk, 1940; Eustace Mullins, This Difficult Individual, Ezra Pound, New York, 1961, [EM, Difficult] ; 1. Kirkpatrick,Musso- lini: A Study o f a Demagogue, London, 1964.
Exegeses
Thomas Grieve, "Annotations to the Chinese in Section: Rock- Drill," Pai, 4-2 & 3, 362-509 (unless otherwise documented, the Chinese materials in the glosses for Rock-Drill are based on this study). HK, Era, 528; Neault, Pai, 3-2, 219-27; JW, Seven Trouba- dours, 156-57; Mondolfo,Pai, 3-2, 286; HK,Pai, 1-1, 83; Richard Jesse Freidenheim, "Ezra Pound: Canto 85," Ph. D. dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1977.
Glossary
CANTO LXXXV Sources
David M. Dewitt, The Judicial Murder ofMary E. Surratt, Balti- more, 1895; Guy W. Moore, The Case ofMrs. Surratt, Univ. of Oklahoma, 1954; Seraphin Couvreur, Chou King, Paris, Cathasia, 1950 [Couvreur]; Russell Grenfell, Unconditional Hatred, Devin- Adair, 1953 [UH]; CON, 27-29, 232,21,20,77; James Legge, The Four Books, Shanghai, 1923 [Legge]; Sophocles, Electra,
1. Ideogram: Ling2 [M4071]. Combines "heaven" over "cloud" over "3 raindrops" over "ritual. " Pound translates as "sensi- bility. "
2. Our dynasty: The Shang dynasty (1753- 1121 B. C. ). The line is Pound's version of a line in Couvreur's Chou King, P. IV , Chap. XIV: "Now our Chou King grandly
and excellently has taken over God's affairs" [po 295]. This chap. , entitled "The Numer- ous Officers," is an announcement to the remaining officers of the Shang dynasty made by the duke of Chou after he had helped King Wu conquer Shang and move to the new city, La. The message of Chou is that Cheou, the last king of Shang, lost his sovereignty to King Wu because of his moral
disorder [53:56].
3. Ideogram: I [M2936], "he, she, it, that one. "
4. Ideogram: Yin [M7439], "ruler," thus "I yin" means "the one who rules. "
5. I Yin: Chief minister of Ch'eng T'ang, 1766-1753 B. C. , first emperor of the Shang dynasty. After the death of T'ang, I Yin became a sort of regent and mentor to the young king and taught him the principles of virtuous government. His teachings are the substance of P. III, Chaps. IV, V, and VI [pp. 1l3-132] of Chou King.
6. roots: ''The word 'roots' is emphatic . . . ; a dynasty grows massively when a great sen- sibility roots it" [HK, Era, 528]. Note rhyme with the tree Yggdrasil of Norse Mythology [cf. 38 below; 90:3].
7. Galileo . . . 1616: In 1616 no works of Galileo were specifically listed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum established in 1564; but the essential principles of his thought as found in Copernicus were cited. Pound's source is Unconditional Hatred by Captain Russell Grenfell [87:21]. This book is also the source of "Wellington's peace. " Grenfell examines the accusation that Germany was the sole cause of two world wars and rejects
? 468
it as unscientific and biased. But war propa-
ganda in England made it impossible to talk about: "It became as dangerous from 1940 to 1945 to suggest this accusation was not in accordance with the evidence as it had been for Galileo to question the belief . . . sup- ported by the Papacy . . . that the sun went around the earth. Galileo's published theory was put on the Index . . . in 1616. . . . In like fashion, any objection to the official propa- ganda . . . that the Germans were the wicked people of the world was liable to get the
objector into trouble" [pp. 186-187J.
8. Wellington's peace: Grenfell (Uff) con- trasts the unreasonableness of the Churchill- Roosevelt war objectives (the total destruc? tion of Germany as a European power following "unconditional surrender") with the wisdom of Wellington, whose guidelines after Waterloo prevented either Germany or France getting territory which might lead to future wars [87:21 J.
9. Ideogram: Chih [M939J, "come to rest. " This character, used 8 times in The Cantos, has a pivotal function: as in the Ta Hsio, chih is the ground whence virtuous action springs. Pound translates: "The Great Learn- ing, . . is rooted in coming to rest, being at ease in perfect equity. Know the point of
rest and then have an orderly mode of pro~ cedure" [CON 27? 29J.
To the Analects Pound adds a note: "There is no more im- portant technical term in the Confucian phi- losophy than this chih (3) the hitching post, position, place one is in, and works from"
[CON, 232J . Pound based a number of his visual reactions to Chinese characters on the etymologies of Morrison [87: 87] , which are now supposed to be unscientific and in-
accurate. As did Morrison, Pound saw a base horizontal stroke,_. as "earth," a top hori- zontal stroke,-, as "heaven," and a middle horizontal stroke, ? as "man," who lives be- tween heaven and earth. Thus, the ideogram for the fully humane man who lives accord- ing to the process of heaven and earth is the character for man used in combination with the horizontal strokes for heaven and earth 1=:. Since this gloss is a cue to Pound's
85/543
continuous perception about hundreds of other characters, the reader is urged to get the idea firmly in mind. The character for ling, above, has the strong base line for earth and the strong stroke for heaven over all. Here chih3 pictures the hitching post based firmly on the earth. If we add a horizontal stroke at the top for heaven, we get the character for "right. " Put the sun, a j over the earth, _ , and we have "dawn. " The ideogram for "earth, soil, land" shows an
element of the character for "tree" standing
on the earth: L . The character for "king," I , has a vertical line showing the king's function as a man translating heaven's will to the people. The character for p'i [cf. 179 belowJ adds a perception of Pound not shared by many others: the 3 strokes be? tween heaven and earth become an arrow pointing toward heaven. And the same char- acter minus the horizontal base stroke be- comes a negative, "with no ground beneath it. " At 98/685, this perception is applied to "the lot of 'em, Yeats, Possum and Wynd- ham. " And so on with numerous characters in the text [John Cayley, Pai, 13? 1 J.
10. gnomon: (a) a sundial; (b) a column or shaft erected perpendicular to the horizon. Shadows define the position of the sun and the time of day. Also a Neoplatonie light metaphor: shadows are defined as light (lux, lumen) pours. Chou King contains records of
85/543-545
central responsibility and function of the state, she was a Western ruler, one who, like Elizabeth, can be identified with the Confu? cian idea of order.
14. Versus . . . (turbae): L, "Opposed to . . . disorderly crowd," Couvreur: " 'Quae despi- ciebant probos prudentesque viros et ad- haerebant potentihus, vere plurimae erant turbae' "(" 'Many were the unruly men who scorned virtue and ability and aligned them- selves with might''') [Pt. III, Chap. II, sec. 4J. Tchoung HOllei, one of the principal ministers of Ch'eng T'ang is describing the rabble (turbae) who, disdaining men of worth (hsien), followed instead the dissolute and slothful Chieh and thus jumped to what they believed to be "the winning side. " Ch'eng Tang, with the assistance of his min- ister I Yin, successfully opposed Chieh and established the Shang dynasty. Pound ex- tends the example to all civilization: the consequence of condemning virtue and abili- ty is social disorder.
IS. Ideogram: Hsien [M2671 J, "virtuous, worthy, good. "
16. 11. 9: Chap. II, Sec. 9 (the announcement of Chung Hui) in Pt. III of Chou King. "rchoung" and "Cheu" appear in that chap- ter: "he who would take care of his end must be attentive to his beginning. "
469
astronomers watching fixing the seasons.
their
gnomons
and
11. Queen Bess: Elizabeth I [66:71J. Pound was impressed with her scholarship and the Confucian qualities she demonstrated as a magnanimous ruler [107: 126J.
12. Ovid: [4/15; 7/24; 76/462J. Elizabeth was famous for her learning. The record shows that at a visit to Cambridge she was asked to say a few words, "just three would do," in Latin. She finally rose and delivered a 600-word oration in impeccable Latin. The record does not show exactly what of Ovid she translated.
13. Cleopatra: Realizing as she did that con- trol of the currency and of coinage was a
19. Ideogram: Jen [M3099J, "perfect vir- tue; humaneness. "
17. Tchiiung: death. "
Chung
[MI500],
"end?
25. epitome. , , : A "gist" or "pith" sum- marizing the passages from Chou King with emphasis on the characters.
26. The sun: In the character for chih4 [ef. 20 aboveJ, we have three components: ~D. The top two carry the sense of prudence; the bottom one, E=l , is the sun radical and indi- cates "process" or the idea of "through time. "
27. Justice . . . prudence: F, "justice of civility, of wisdom. " An explanatory note of Couvreur says that heaven gave man ("put into his heart") these principles.
28. wei heou: French transcription of wei [M7066], "only," and hou [M2144], "ruler," which together mean "sovereign. "
29. E8? icx: H, "wisdom. "
30. chueh: [MI680J. A personal pronoun: "his, their. " What Pound sees in the charac- ter Jfi. is not what philologists see. The first component, r ,he sees as a shelter; under this, ~, "grass"; and to the right, jt, a radical which means "lacking," which may imply hopes. When these three things cohere we have a rhyme with "what SPLENDOUR' IT ALL COHERES" [109:17; 116/797J.
3 I. Not led . . . contriving: Pound's idea of a Couvreur passage concerning the motiva- tion of a good sovereign,
32. eccellenza: I, "excellence. "
33. THE FOUR TUAN: The four principles of Confucianism-love, duty, propriety, and wisdom.
34. Ideo: Tuan [M6541 J, "principles, foun- dations, "
35. Hulled rice . . . easter: Pound sees in the character for i [M3001J, ~ (not in canto), components for hulled rice, *" and silk, "*. The character refers to cups or vases used in libations in a religions context: thus, the idea of Easter.
36, bachi: I, from bachicoltore, ~'silk worm breeder," meaning "cocoon. " Italian peasant
18. cheu: Shih [M5772J , "beginning. "
20. Ideogram: Chih prudence, "
[M933 J,
"wisdom;
21. i-li: I [M2932]' "by, with"; Ii [M3886], "politeness,"
22. J[: Chung [MI508], "heart, recti? tude. " Note that the phrase "(1508, Ma? thews)" in the right margin should be next to this character.
23. t. J- :Hao [M2062J, "good, excellent. "
24. 'f': Chia [M61O], "armour, scaly. "
? 470
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471
women brought bachi to mass concealed in their aprons, an old pagan tradition persis- ting into the present.
37. T'ang: [53:40]. He inscribed on his bathtub, "Make it New. "
38. Ygdrasail: Yggdrasil. In Norse mytholo- gy the great tree whose branches extend throughout' the universe. In Western terms a subject rhyme with "the process" or "the way,"
39. poi: I, "then,"
40. Ideogram: Shih [M5780], "a period of time. "
41. Ideogram: Ch'en [M331], "sincere, trustworthy. "
42. Ideogram: Ch'en. Another form. To- gether, shih ch'en, meaning "to be sincere," comes from a Couvreur passage that Legge translates: "Dh! let us attain to be sincere in these things and so we shall likewise have a happy consummation. "
. . .
44. Hia: Hsia. The first dynasty [53: 44].
45. i moua pou gning: I [M302l] , rna [M4557], pu [M5379], ning [M4725]. Couvreur's French transcription: "likewise
all were in tranquility. "
46. Perspicax . . . : L, "He who cultivates himself is keen. " The line does not occur exactly in this form in Couvreur's Latin, but the idea does.
47. This "leader" . . . pole: The
these lines with the gouged pumpkin are not clearly in the relevant sections of Couvreur or Legge. Thus they probably derive from a Poundian nonphilological examination of some characters. The young king [cf. 55
below] was named T'ai Chiao The second component in his name [cf. 24 above] may have suggested a gouged pumpkin hoisted on a pole. As recorded in the "T'ai Chia", I Yin sent the young king into seclusion by the tomb of his grandfather because he did not follow I Yin's advice.
piece entitled "Deus est Amor," published in 1940, by "Quotations from Richard St Victor" [SF, 71]. The people who inhabit The Cantos, early and late, may be judged as types belonging to Hell, Purgatory, or Para- dise on the basis of several criteria. One of the most important of these is their mode of thought. Said Pound: "Richard St Victor had hold of something: sic: There are three modes of thought, cogitation, meditation and contemplation. In the first the mind fiits aimlessly about the object [Hell], in the second it circles about in a methodical man? ner [Purgatory], in the third it is unified with the object [Paradise]" [GK, 77]. Rich- ard will come up by name and citations from his thoughts with increasing frequency in the later cantos [87/570, 576, 90/607]. Rich- ard's three modes of thought come to be expressed graphically by other clusters of threes: earth, cocoon, wasp; earth, crysalis, butterfly (the kings in their islands); light, crystal, jade; and so on [Neault, Pai, 3-2,
219-227].
53. Erigena: [36:9; 83:8]. To entertain the king (Charles the Bald) he brightened up his style with classical quotes, he being about the only person around in the 9th century who could do so [83: ! O].
54. Y Yin: [cf. 5 above].
55. young king: T'ai Chia [cf. 47 above].
in the palace at T'ung, where he can be quietly near the remains of the former king. "
58. fish-traps: The character for "deceive" is used in a metaphor that translates, "a fish? trap of wicker," suggesting something weak and temporary. If the young king were to go on in his old ways, he would, when ruler, "bitch" the generation he ruled by weak, unprincipled expedients (in a word, Confucian disorder) and not build on solid virtue and humanitas.
59. k'o . . . : K'e [M3320], "competent"; chung [M1500] , "end"; yun [M7759], "sin- cere"; te [M6l62] , "virtue" [cf. 48 above]. Or, "In the end he [the young king] became sincerely virtuous. "
60. elbow-grease: Pound's rendition of, "What achievement can be made without earnest effort? "
61. Szu: [M5592]. "To sacrifice. " Cou- vreur's "seu," "year. " From the "T'ai Chia" "on the first day of the 12th month of the 3rd year, I Yin took the imperial cap and robes, and escorted the young king back to Po" [Legge, IV, V, ii].
43.