No More Learning

96. La Figlia di lorio: I, "Jorio's Daughter," A 1904 play by D'Annunzio.
97. Oedipus of the Lagunes: I, "0, 0 f the Lagoons. " Prob. a play that mocked the sentimental melodramatic characters in La Figlia di Jorio.
98. D'Annunzio: Gabriele D. , 1863-1938, Italian novelist and playwright [93: 134] .
99. l'ara suI rostro: I, "the altar on the rostrum. "
100. 20 years: Perhaps a reference to the dream of the great society of justice and help for people which Pound believed Mussolini was going to build [74: 1].
101. young Mozart: [41/204]. On Oct. 16-17,1777, M. wrote to his father de~crib- ing the son of a local magistrate, an arrogant patrician who had been insulting him by making fun of an award M. had been given while at the same time offering him a pinch of snuff. M. got increasingly enraged and
chap. 6 of
? ? 396
in his turn offered the son a pinch of snuff along with a more pointed insult. This little scene went on through many a pinch and sniff. M. told his father he had decided that the whole company of patricians could get a better sniff by licking his arse. Say BK and TCDE, "Pound is surely remembering the
incident as a little battle in the long war between the artist and the patronizing bourgeoisie" [The Explicator, 40 (1981), 43].
102. prise: P, "pinch of snuff. "
103. Ponce: Juan Ponce de Leon, 71460- 1521, Spanish governor of Puerto Rico and discoverer of Florida, which he found while looking for the Fountain of Youth.
104. alia fuente florida: I, "to the" S, "flowery fountain. "
105. Anchises: The father of Aeneas, to whom Aphrodite appeared as a beautiful woman, posing as the daughter of King atreus [23:34].
76/456-458
113. J. Adams: John A. said, "But every bank of discount . . . is downright corrup- tion" [71 :35]. A major economic statement Pound recalls often in the Pisan and later cantos.
114. Sergeant XL: Poss. Sgt. Lauterback, disciplinary NCO at the DTC, whose nick- name was "the Ripper. "
115. ac ferae familiares: L, "and domesti- cated wild animals" [20:73].
116. a destra: I, "to the right. "
76/458-459
planet" would be Venus. Bion's Lament for
Adonis uses Dione as a name for Aphrodite herself [47:12].
121. Helia: Misprint for Delia [cf. 109 above ] .
122. /<. lYrrpu::: H, "Cypris," Le. , the home of the Cyprian goddess Aphrodite.
397 BBC. Pound's perception of Bracken is not
the same as that of Time. Time reported that before Bracken ran the M. O. I. it "was sneered at as the Ministry of Misinforma- tion. . . . He saw to it that censors blue- penciled only military information" [Time, ibid. ].
129. ego scriptor: L, "I, the writer. "
130. Lucca: Capital o f Lucca Province, Tuscany, central Italy.
131. Forti dei Marmi: [Forte dei Marmi] : A sman town in Lucca Province.
132. Berchthold: Unidentified. But if "after the other one" is construed as after WWI the name may be a misspelling for Leopold Graf von Berchtold (1863-1942), Austro- Hungarian foreign minister, whose reckless policy made the war inevitable [87:8]. After the war, he was out of the government completely and retired to his private estate. Perhaps the parallel with Churchill suggested his name to Pound.
133. Thetis: A nereid, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles. Her appearance here and 6 lines later associated with crystal colors and "tangibility" suggests some land of visionary experience.
134. spiriti questi: I, "are these spirits. " 135. personae: L, "people. "
136. atasal: [cLI17 above].
137. Maya: Poss. the Hindu earth-mother personified as a maiden: the real world is conceived in Hindu philosophy as only illusion. Or poss. Maia, daughter of Atlas and Pleione and mother of Hermes. Maia is the oldest and most beautiful of the Pleiades
[74:21! ].
138. Aq,poDi71/: H, "Aphrodite" [1:26].
139. Zoagli: A town a few miles S of Rapallo [46:4].
140. ot ~&p~"po" H, "the barbarians. "
141. Sigismundo's Temple: The Tempio
built by S. Malatesta [8 :43].
106. Cythera
Cythera," an epithet for Aphrodite [24:30].
107. K6e1/p" DElV';i: H, "dread [of fearful] Cythera. "
108. the crystal body: Major metaphor for final manifestation of divinity in the uni- verse [74:498], as "the great ball of crystal"
[116/795] and "pure Light, we beseech
124. Carrara: A city in Tuscany.
125. un terzo cielo: I, "a third heaven"
[Par. VIII, 37].
126. Prefetlo: I, "prefect. " Gioacchino Nicoletti was a local officer at Gardone near Sa16 on Lake Garda, where "a powerless Mussolini was. , ,administering a Republic of Italy. . . . Pound made his way there mOre than once, talked to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, hoped to bring fiscal enlightenment into the dream, sat at nearby Gardone with the Prefect . . . where in sight of a mountain that looked like Fujiyama a quiet cat stalked a railing and quiet water moved southward"
[HK, Era, 469; 74:49].
127. La Donna: Prob. Claia Petacci, the
mistress of Mussolini, who followed him to Gardone and caused public concern [74:53].
128. Bracken . . . to lie: These five
were prompted by Time articles in 1945 [June 4,36 and June 11,50]. Churchill (the "squeak-doll") resigned as premier at noon on May 23, 1945, but at 4 p. m. the same day he returned to Buckingham Palace to accept the invitation of King George to form a new government. Brendan Bracken was thus "out" only two days. He had been boss
of the British Ministry of Information which controlled wartime censorship of th~
thee / Crystal, we ments/799], etc.
beseech
thee"
[Frag-
potens: L,
"powerful
109. K6p1/, L'. eALa oeLVa: H, "daughter [Persephone], dread Delia [""1/ALa] "; or Artemis, so-ca11ed because she was the virgin
goddess of the isle of Delos.
110. et libidinis expers: L, "to whom passion is unknown. "
111. nOAA&' 7T"eeCV: H, "to suffer much" rOd. 1,4: "and his heart experienced many
sufferings upon the sea"].
112. dove sta memoria: I, "where memory lives" [36:3].
lines
117. atasal: Prob. transliteration
Arabic, meaning "union with the divine. " Pound in discussing the deficiencies of Aristotelian ethics as set forth in the Nichomachean Ethics sets certain precepts againsJ "R. St Victor's gradation of processes: (1) the aimless flitting of the mind, (2) the systematic circling of the attention around the object, (3) contempla-
tion, the identification of the consciousness WITH the object" [GK, 328]. The third stage here he then relates to "remarks on arabic ideas about atasal, union with the divine. " Fang [IV, 31] suggests the Pound "atasal" comes from ittisale in lalaluddin Rumi's couplet: "Ittisale bi-taquaiyuf bi giyas / Hast baina 'nasa wa Rabb 'annas"
[Union exists beyond all thought and speech between great Allah and the soul of each]. Eva Hesse believes the word derives from Avicenna, the Mohammedan physician and philosopher, as Pound suggests in MIN, 390.
118. nec personae: L, "nor people" (individuals in the flesh).
119. hypostasis: Pound uses the word not in the theological sense (the separate personal subsistence in one divine substance of each entity of the Trinity) but in the philosophi- cal sense, "an entity conceived as a self? subsisting object" different from spirit, as in the line "whether of spirit or hypostasis"
[81/520].
120. Dione: Consort of Zeus, mother of Aphrodite, derived from ancient earth? mother or sky-goddess deity. Thus, "her
123.
with his fmgers" 221].
Pound's
Discretions,
from
eyes . . . his
"both
daughter, while working in a German mili? tary hospital as the war in Italy came to an end, wrote her father about a young man of 23 sent home from the hospital blind. He disapproved "of his father letting the old cows get so thin he could count their ribs
[M de R,
cow":
? 398
76/459-460
76/460-461
399
142. Divae Ixottae: I [V ariant], "Divine Isotta. " Mistress and then third wife of Sigismundo who built the Tempio in her honor [9:59]. A marble bust of Isotta was installed on the N side of the burial ground, Campo Santo, at Pisa: hence, "her effigy"
[Fang, II, 248] .
143. Ladder at swing: Poss. a reference to a fresco in the Campo Santo at Pisa destroyed during WWII [M de R]. Or poss. memory of medieval Christian icons and paintings entitled "descent from the cross. " This interpretation supposes the "he" ("the wing'd fish") of the phrase (7 lines before) "he comes out into the air" is a metaphor for Christ the "living arrow" [M. Shuldiner, Pai, 4? 1, 73].
144. La Cara: amo: I, "the loved one"; L, "I love. "
"Prester John, 1476= Throne of gold set with gems, 7 tiers, gold, ivory, crystal,-to the rubys, for this stone giveth sleep. " The legend of Prester John derives from a letter, widely circulated in 16th? century Europe, in which he told of a Christian utopia he had founded. Among other great luxuries he listed his bed: "the bed I sleep on is entirely covered with sapphires, by virtue of which I maintain my chastity. I have many beautiful women, but I only sleep with them three months of the year . . . and then only for purposes of procreation" [Shuldiner, Pai, 4? 1, 72]. Pound appears to use this stone as a meta- phor for spiritual repose [74/426, 435; 74:37].
But the idea of 7 tiers is significant: it rhymes with the seven walls of Ecbatan
[4:32], which according to Herodotus were built seriatim up the side of a great hill. Each one was of a different color of ascending value; the next to the top was made of silver, and the last on the crest (within which was the king's treasury and home) was made of gold [Herodotus I, 98, Loeb, I].
146. hoi barbaroi: [cf. 140 above]. 147. pervenche: F, "periwinkle. "
148. et sequelae: L, "and the consequences. " 149. Le Paradis . . . : F, "Paradise is not
column in the Piazza di San Marco where the statue of St. Theodore stands on a crocodile
[26:1].
164. the Era: The Fascist era during which a number of public works which Pound approved of were completed. After WWI, a wooden bridge, Ponte dell'Accademia, reo placed the iron bridge of 1854 [Ivancich].
thus condemned her to lifelong weaving [74:457].
175. che mi porta fortuna: I, "who brings me good luck. "
176. Unkle
Holden Tinkham, congressman from Massa- chusetts whom Pound met at the Hotel Excelsior in Venice in 1936 and again at the Lido in Washington in 1939. Pound corre? sponded with him over a number of years
[M de R].
177. Brassitalo: Italian painter, Italieo Brass, 1870? 1943, who signed some of his work this way [Fang, II, 288] .
178. abbazia: I, "abbey. "
179. voi . . . via: I, "you who pass by this way. " Perhaps a paraphrase, in part, of Dante's "0 voi, che per la via d'Amor passate," from the second sonnet of Vita Nuova [Pound quotes the line in SR, 121] .
180. D'Annunzio: Gabriele D. [cf. 98 above; 93:134] . He did live at the Casetta Rossa on the Grand Canal in 1920 while he wrote of his war experiences as an aviator in a book entitled Nolturno. Thus Katherine Heyman and Pound may have visited him, or tried to, b that year [Ivancich].
181. K. H. : Katherine Ruth Heyman, a concert pianist for whom Pound acted as an impresario in 1908 [Bowers, Pai, 2-1, 53? 66].
182. Veneziana: I, "Venetian woman. "
183. Non combaattere: I, "Don't fight. "
184. Giovanna: Poss. the name of the "Veneziana. " Or the name of a servant in a Venetian house where Pound used to stay.
185. Arachne: [cf. 174 above].
186. Athene: From Sappho's "Hymn to Aphrodite. "
187. Ti, ix/il"E1: H, "Who wrongs [you]? " Reminiscent of Aphrodite's question to Sappho: Ti, T', <I, 'JIcarq! , ix/il"1]? l("Who is it Sappho that does them wrong? ") [Lyra Graeca I, fr. 1, 184, OBGV, No. 140].
. . .
167. Fonda, Fondecho: POSS. "Fonda," which means nothing, is an abbreviation of fondamenta ("foundation") or an attempt to speJl the Venetian sound of fondaco ("warehouse"), which is "fontego. " Two buildings on the canal have such a designa? tion.
168. Tullio Romano: T. Lombardo, ? 1455? 1532, Italian architect and sculptor who did the Vendramini tomb in Venice [cf. 165 above]. The sirenes are the four marble figures in Santa Maria Dei Miracoli also in Venice [Ivancich] .
169. custode: I, "guard. " 170. Santa . . . Miracoli:
145. Her bed
[Yale, 11] contain a note which says:
sapphire:
The notebooks
artificial"
[74 :292].
150. /iO! "puwv: H, "weeping" if pres. part. nom. masc. sing; if gen. pl. , "of tears. "
151. L. P. : Laval, Petain [RO].
152. gli onesti: I, "the honest ones" [7:14].
George: [74:180]
George
153. J'ai . . . assez:
others, probably not enough. "
Palazzo Vendramin?
156. Ia
of the swine. "
. . .
: I, "the little
herdess
pastorella
F, "I had
pity for
154. I'enfer non plus: F, "heJl isn't either. " 155. Eurus: An east or southeast wind.
157. benecomata dea: L, "the fair-tressed goddess. " Circe [1 :1].
158. San Via: The Campo (field) San Vio, which runs to the Grand Canal of Venice, where the Church of San Vio is located
[Ivancich].
159. Salviati: A glass shop where they still blow glass [M de R].
160. Don Carlos: The Bourbon Don Carlos, Duke of Madrid (1848? 1909), who in 1908 was living at the Palazzo Loredan, Campo San Vio, Venice.
161. Ie bozze: I, "proofsheets. "
162. "A Lume Spento": I, "With tapers [lights] quenched," The title of Pound's first book of verse published in 1908. The 8 lines ending with "or wait 24 hours," concern a dramatic moment in Pound's life as well as a turning point. According to his own account, he sat on the bank of the Grand Canal trying to decide whether he should throw the proofsheets of his book into the water and give up poetry, or shift to the other side of the canal and walk "by the column of Todero" on the way to deliver the proofsheets to the printer (presumably) or do neither, but wait for 24 hours before
deciding [NS, Life, 47].
163. Todero: [Todaro]: "Theodore. " The
Christmas, 1939
[M de R] .
165. Vendramin:
Calergi, on the right bank of the Grand Canal, famous as the place where Richard Wagner died in 1883.
166. Contrarini: [Contarini]: Several grand buildings on the canal have Contarini as -part of their names. Also, Pound stayed at the Palazzo Contarini at San Trovaso during
Famous church: "the jewel box" [Fang, II, 276].
171. Dei Greci, San Giorgio: The Church of St. George of the Greeks.
172. Carpaccio: Vittore C. , ? 1455? 1525? , Italian painter [26:93].
173. San Marco: I, "St. Mark. " The cathe? dral on the square.
174. Arachne: I, "spider. " Arachne was the name of the girl who chaJlenged Athena to a weaving contest. Because of her effrontery, the goddess changed her into a spider and
V enetian
? 400
188. butterfly: Along with other flying insects. the butterfly is a wide-ranging metaphor for the soul in flight from the body, as well as for spiritual aspirations or feelings [cf. 48:42, 50, 53].
189. smoke hole: Old army pyramidal tents had a smoke hole through which the pipe of a crude, funnel-shaped stove could be fitted in the winter. The literal smoke hole of the tent may have evoked the thought of the smoke hole in Faust's laboratory later in the
canto [cf. 217 below].
190. Unkle George: [cf. 176 above].
191. Ct/Volpe: Count Giuseppe Volpi, 1877-1947, was finance minister under Mussolini who created him Conte di Misu- rata: "He'was supposedly responsible for the rural electrification of the Adriatic Coast and for the development of the port of Venice, where he was born" [Fang, III, 88].
192. Lido: Resort town on the N end of the island outside the Lagoon of Venice.
193. "Rutherford Hayes: The 19th presi? dent (1877. 1881) of the U. S. Besides the 3 times on this page, Tinkham is mentioned a number of other times in the Pisan Cantos, always with a V enetian setting [74:180; 80/509]. Either Pound himself said that Tinkham looked like some statue of Hayes, or he overheard the phrase in quotes.
194. princess: Prob. Princess Winnaretta
Eugenia (1870? 1943), widow of Prince Edmond Melchior de Polignac (1834? 1901), whom she married in 1893 after a previous marriage was annulled by the Holy See, Feb. I, 1892. She was the daughter of Isaac Merritt Singer, the wealthy inventor of the Singer sewing machine. She helped Pound obtain the Janequin music of Canto 75, for which he thanked her in a letter from Rapallo [L, 254]. He mentioned her in
another letter [L, 249].
195. Dafne's Sandro: Sandro Botticelli's
painting of Daphne, who while being chased by Apollo was turned into a laurel tree. Such a word inversion is a type of metonymy ("misnamer"),
76/461-462 196. Trovaso, Gregorio, Vio: The Church of
San Trovaso, the Abbazia San Gregorio, and
the Church of San Via are all on the canal-
Rio de San Trovaso-which is named after
the church [Ivaneich].
197. Dottore: I, "doctor. " Alexander Robertson, D.