No More Learning

73. mint, thyme and basilicum: Plants associated with paradise [CFT, Pai, 3-1, 93-94].
74. "half dead . . . ": From "Blood and the Moon," by W. B. Yeats: "In mockery I have set / A powerful emblem up / . . . In mockery of a time / Half dead at the top. "
75. goyim: Yiddish epithet for non-Jews.
76. Yu-en-mi: The Youanmi Gold Mines. Ltd. , promoted by Herbert Hoover in 1912.
77. Mr Keith: Pass. William Keith, 1838- 1911, an American painter.
78. Donatello: Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, ? 1386-1466, Italian sculptor.
79. 0 Lynx: One of the feline animals sacred to Dionysus. The lyric refrains and appeals to the lynx in the rest of the canto may be conceived as a generalized prayer to the god of sex and wine, but as imagining a particular woman. Scholars debate whether Pound had Dorothy Pound or Olga Rudge or Bride Scratton or even someone else in mind. One might note that, as far as the poetry is concerned (here and in anumber of other identifications), it doesn't matter.
80. Manitou: The Algonquin Indian name for the natural power that permeates all things.
81. Khardas: Poss. Persian Khiirbiit, the lead
88. EV, TpoiV: H, "in Troy. " From the song
105. Astafieva: [cf. 9 above].
106. Byzance: Byzantium.
107. ""laKXE . . . : H, "Iacchos, Rejoice! "
108. "Eat if it not . . . error: Because Kore ate the pomegranate seeds that Dis gave her, Zeus condemned her to return to Hades for four months each year.
109. AOI: MF(? ), occurs 172 times in ms. of La Chanson de Roland: meaning un- known. Perhaps it means "Hail" as in "10. "
110. Kop1J: H, "Daughter. " Persephone, the daughter of Demeter.
111. Pomona: Ancient Italian goddess at fruit trees.
112. fire . . . flame: The potent sexuality all nature is alive with, particularly fruit, in which the seed is concentrated.
113. Melagrana: I, "Pomegranate. "
114. Heliads: [76:6].
115. erot. le: I, "the rattlesnake's rattle. "
116. 'YA",vKwm" H, "with gleaming eyes. " Epithet for Aphrodite, Cythera [Kuthera]
[cf. 60 above] .
117. erotales: I, "castanets. " Made from the rattle of the rattlesnake and used in the dances of the bassarids.
118. ixwp: H, "ichor. " The juice that flows in the veins of the gods. It was conceived to be different from blood, but came to be blood.
119. kalicanthus: The calycanthus flower.
120. 'A? pDIi[T~v: H, "Aphrodite. "
121. ? 'HAw" H, "Helios. " The sun at dawn. The "red glow in the pine spikes" anticipates the Na-Khi flora and ambience in Thrones and Cantos 110, 112 [102:49].
I, "as
if he held
98. '-I"'KXo" 1o! . . . : H,
[another name for Dionysus] , Hail Cythera [Aphrodite]. "
donkey in the Shah Firdausi [EH] .
Nameh
[77: I 71]
of
82. "Prepare . . . ": rOd. X,450].
"Hail
lacchos
83. How [77:30].
is it far
. . . :
Recurrent
leit-motif
84. Lidya: Lydia Yavorska, 1874-1921, a Russian-born actress (and erstwhile wife of Prince Vladimir Bariatinsky) who acted in London, 1910-1921. She prob. told Pound the story of the executioner. Pound may have seen her accost Henry James: "Men of my time have witnessed 'parties' in London gardens where . . . everyone else (male) wore grey 'toppers. ' As I remember it even Henry James wore one, and unless memory blends two occasions he wore also an enormous checked weskit" [GK, 82].
85. Mr. James: [7:13; 74:191].
86. "Cher maItre": F, "Dear Master. " 87. fish-tails: The Sirens.
122. IiELVe. ? . . : Cythera. "
H, "You are
fearful,
'I
of the Sirens to 189-190].
Odysseus
[Od. XII,
89. Eos nor Hesperus: The Morning and Evening stars here [80: 110].
90. Silenus: A satyr, sometimes called the son of Hermes or Pan, who was a companion o f Dionysus.
91. Casey: Corporal at the DTC.
92. bassarids: Thracian maenads.
93. Maelids: Tree nymphs [3: 12] .
94. cossak: [cf. 84 above]. He executes because he likes to.
95. Salazar . . . : Trainees at DTC.
ably many of the trainees, especially black soldiers, had names of early presidents of the United States and even of famous non? presidents such as Calhoun.
96. Calhoun: [34:48]. The "Retaliate" theme, developed in detail in Cantos 87-89, is first sounded here.
97. Priapus: God of fertility, son of Dionysus and Aphrodite.
99. having root . . . : Perhaps the Analects IV, 16: "The proper man under- stands equity, the small man, profits" [CON, 207].
100. lo! : A Greek salute usually translated, "Hail! "
101. you can make, . . converts: The China miSSionary heard here may be the one at 28/136.
102. Sweetland: Prob. one of the trainees at the DTC.
103. EAET/OOV: H, "have mercy. "
104. Kyrie eleison: H, "Lord, have mercy. " Phrase from Orthodox liturgy and Roman Mass.
Presum?
idea of
123. KOP1J . . . : H, "Daughter [Persephone],
? 428
79/492
80/493 429
and Delia [Artemis/Dianaj, and Maia [mother of Hermes] . "
124. KV7TP" . . . : "Cyprus Aphrodite. "
125. Kv81]p"': H, "Cythera [Aphrodite]. "
126. aram . . . vult: L, "The grove needs an altar.
" Recurrent theme which climaxes at 90/607 when, in a visionary passage, the
grove gets its altar [74:441].
127. Cimbica: Writing about the work of W. H. Hudson, Pound said: "He would lead us to South America. . . for the sake of meeting a puma, Chimbica, friend of man, the most loyal of wildcats" [SP, 431]. A rhyme with other animals of the cat family who have significance as manifestations
of the divine presence in nature.
94? 100; Peck, Pai, 1-1,9; Flory, Pai, 5-1, 45-46: HK, Pai, 2-3, 492; CFT,Pai, 5-1, 69-76;Surette,Pai,6-1, 111-13;BK,Pai,5-2, 350; JW, Pai, 12-1,55-75; DP, Barb, 274-284; WB,Rose, passim; HK, Era, 72-74, 113-114, 476-481, 488-489, passim; Achilles Fang, "Materials for the Study of Pound's Cantos," Ph. D. disser- tation, Harvard University, 1958, Vols. II, III, IV; Michael King, "Ezra Pound at Pisa: An Interview with John L. Steele," Texas Quarterly, XXI,4, Winter 1978,49-61 [King, "Steele"]. NS, Life, 45, 322; R. Sieburth, Instigations, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1978, 15; Charles Norman, Ezra Pound, New York, Mac- millan. 1960 [CN, Pound] : CB-R, ZBC, 106.
Glossary
6. Finlandia: A tone poem by the Finnish composer Sibelius.
7. Debussy: Claude D. , 1862-1918. French composer.
8. pains au lai! : F, "milk rolls"
9. eucalyptus: On the day Pound was arrested by the Partisans, he picked up a seed of the eucalyptus tree on the salita and carried it as a good luck charm.
10. "Come pan, nifio! ": S, "Eat bread, boy. "
CANTO LXXX Sources
Ain' committed . . . : Opinion of why
Time, Aug. 13, Aug. 6, Jul. 2, 1945; Homer, ad. x, V; Horace, Odes I; James Legge, The Four Books, Shanghai, 1923 [Legge]; Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Death's Jest-Book; T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, Ash Wednesday; Horace, Ars Poetica; Dante, In! V. IX; Shakespeare, Twelfth Night IV, Julius Caeser III, sc. 2; Samuel Johnson, The Plays of William Shakespeare, 1765;Pierre de Ronsard, Sonnets pour Helene, II; Wyndham Lewis, Blasting and Bombardiering, London, 1937 [Blasting]; Enrico Pea, Moscardino, trans. Ezra Pound, New York, New Directions, 1955; EP,CON, 218, 257, 229, 99,247, 145:P,271,257,39, 192,28; Morris Speare, The Pocket Book o f Verse, 1940 [Spear].
Background
EP,L, 21, 95,131,331,333,338,341,179,52, 228;GK, 199, 88-89,200, 80-81,309-310, 179, 185, 189, 110, 180-181,227, 31, 79, 146; PE, 23, 29, 205, 11; NEW, 163; SP, 414, 378-383, 24,115-117, 124,418; ABCR, 43, 79-80;LE, 431-440, 276;SR, 161,84,208; Michael Holroyd, Augustus John, New York, 1974 [Holroyd, John]; Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 4; American Writers in Paris, 1920-1939, by George Wickes, Detroit, 1980; John Gould Fletcher, Life is My Song, New York, 1937; George Santayana, Persons and Places, vols. 1, 2, New York, 1944-45; Ford Madox Ford, Portraits from Life, New York, 1937; Poetry, March 1918; Julian Franklin, Heraldry, London, ARCU, 1965.
Exegeses
Chilanti, Pai, 6-2, 245; Shuldiner, Pai, 4-1,73-78; Nassar, i'ai, 1-2, 210; Davie, Pai, 6-1, 102; Kimpel, Pai, 10-2,308; CFT, Pai, 3-1,
1.
he's in the DTC expressed by Mr. A. Little- or one of the trainees.
2. GEfJ. t<:: H, "law (not as fixed by statute, but) as established by custom: justice, right" [L&S]. The vagaries of justice come from murderers and rapists receiving sentences similar to ones received by those guilty of
minor transgressions.
3. Amo ergo sum: L, "I love; therefore I am. " Rephrasing of the Cartesian cogito. A musical figure often used by Pound.
4. Margot: M. Asquith [38:22]. Time [Aug. 6, 1945] carried her obituary: "Died. Margot Asquith, 81, The Countess of Oxford and Asquith, witty widow of British Prime Minister (1908-16) Herbert H. Asquith, longtime society enfant terrible. . . . Her lifetime of audacities included writing a note in pencil to Queen Victoria, declining to stay at a dinner party despite King Edward's request. " Pound was fond of her. She ordered copies of Blast in advance [Fletcher, Life is My Song, 137] and had her portrait
sketched by Gaudier-Brzeska [Fang, II, 82].
5. Walter: W. Morse Rummel, 1887-1953, German pianist and composer who was much interested in 12th- and 13th-century French songs. Pound lived with him for months at a time in Paris and mentions him often [L, 21, 95, 131; GK, 199]. Like Michio Ito [77: 86] , he seems to have lacked a coin for the gas meter at times.
II. Spanish [45 :5].
bread: Before
adulteration
12. senesco sed amo: L, "I age, but I love. "
13. Madri' . . . : Spanish cities Pound re- membered from his younger days as a guide there.
14. Gervais: Brand name of a French dairy company.
15. Las Menilias: A painting by Velasquez of "the page girls" of the queen, which Pound saw at the Prado Museum along with several others he lists here.
16. Philip . . . : Portraits of Philip III on horseback, ca. 1635: Philip IVan horseback, ca. 1635; Philip IV hunting wild boar, ca. 1638; Philip IV in hunting suit but not on horseback, etc.
? 430
80/493-494
29. Turgenev: Ivan T. , 1818-1883, Russian novelist who was much influenced by his many years of friendship with Flaubert. The sentiment about death comes from his Une Nichee de Gentilshommes, which Pound frequently cited [PE, 23; GK, 200; SP, 414J.
80/495
Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doc-
trine o f the Mean. These plus Mencius make up the Four Books.
41. Tsu Tsze: Tzu Hsi, empress dowager of China and actual ruler, 1898-1908. Pound tells an anecdote from Katherine Carl's book, With the Empress Dowager: "Under the insistence of the Empress she' turned out. . . an excellent work of art, in the course of producing which she observed the Dowager charming birds, definitely luring at least one down from a tree . . . . Mrs. Carl also describes the old lady painting or writing the ideograms, writing them large and with great and delicate perfection" [GK, 80-81J.
42. Confucius: Analects VI, 26: "He went to see (the duchess) Nan-tze. Tse-Lu was displeased. The big man said: Well, I'll be damned, if there's anything wrong about this, heaven chuck me" [CON, 218J.
43. Nancy: N. Cunard, 1896-1965, contem- porary American poet and patron of the arts. Nan-tze in the Analects above suggests this Nancy who had a violent love affair with Henry Crowder, an American Jazz musician [84:9J, which scandalized the expatri- ates in Paris during the late 20s.
44. Hartmann: Sadakichi Hartmann, 1867- 1944, American poet, playwright, and art critic whom Pound thought highly of. He wrote: "Sadakichi Hartmann sends me a SOrt of helter-skelter table . . . and Aristotle is among the 'near great' on his list. I mention this because Sadakichi has lived. Has so lived that if one hadn't been oneself it wd. have been worth while to have been Sadakichi. This is a tribute I can pay to few men (even to those listed in his table of glories:" [GK, 309-310J.
45. Manhattan: Hartmann noted on the title page of his A Tragedy in a New York Flat that it was "written in a New York flat, '95-'96, on nothing a week" [Fang, II, 56J.
46. Hovey: Richard H. , 1864-1900, Ameri- can poet.
431
S. , 1874-1904,
17. the dwarfs: Portrait of the dwarf Sebastian de Morra, ca. 1643-1649; portrait of the dwarf EI Primo. 1644.
18. Don Juan: Painting so named.
19. Breda: Las Lanzas, or The Surrender of
Breda, a painting in which lances are promi- nently displayed; done ca. 1635.
20. the Virgin: The Virgin Delivering the Chasuble to St. Ildefonso, ca 1618-1620.
21. Los Boracchos: The Drinkers, 1629.
22. Las Hilanderas: The Carpet Weavers
(female), painted ca. 1655-1660.
23. the Prado: The National Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Madrid.
24. "Las Americas": Bazaar in Madrid.
25. Symons: Arthur S. , 1865? 1945, British poet and critic important in the develop- ment of symbolism in the 1890s. He may have told the story Ernest Rhys [74:434J reported in Everyman Remembers. "One droll impression connects Symons with Paul Verlaine. It was at a Paris party given by Verlaine in his tiny bedroom. He had been ill. . . . But Verlaine was a humorous host. He produced . . . a ten-franc note, and said . . . 'I have money: I will have pleasure. Go, Jean-and buy a bottle of rum. ' When the rum arrived, as there was only one tumbler, they all drank from it in turn" [pp. 11l? 1l2J. Symons or Rhys probably told this or a similar anecdote at the Tabarin.
26. TabarD! : The Bal Tabarin was a Mont- martre nightclub at 58 rue Pigalle, on the Right Bank.
27. Hennique: Leon H. , 1851-1935, French dramatist and novelist. Speaking of literary lights in France, Pound said: "A few more than middle aged gents had reminiscences. Hennique remembered Flaubert and Maupassant. Men distinctly of the second line conserved this, that, or the other" [GK, 88-89J.
28. Flaubert: Gustave F. , 1821-1880, French novelist.
47. Stickney: American poet.
Trumbull
[1 :7J.