No More Learning

22. Hesperides: Daughters of Atlas and Hes? peris who guarded the golden apples of a tree that the goddess Gea let sprout from her lap.
23. old countess: Perhaps the whoring coun? tess of Vienna [35/173].
24. Stef: Stephanie Y ankowska, a beautiful Polish girl Pound knew in Venice in 1908. When she read in the late 40s that a poet named Pound was locked up in St. Eliza? beths, she wanted to know if it was the young man she had known. Finding it was, she began a long campaign to get him re- leased and began a correspondence with EP which went on intensely during his St. Eliza- beths years. As a wealthy Polish expatriate, she knew almost everyone in the diplomatic corps in the capitals of Western Europe. It was through her intercession with the sister of Dag Hammarskjold that he cited lines
from Pound in the General Assembly of the United Nations; and it was her intercession with Mrs. John Foster Dulles in 1957 that helped with the decision to release Pound in 1958 [data from Jerzy Niemojowski friend of the Yankowska family].
25. Sir Ian: Prob. General Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton [104:37], staff officer in the British Army. Pound repeated the story Stephanie told him of their escape during the Communist takeover of Poland.
26. Petain: [79:18]. The lines refer to the Poles marching into the Ukraine in 1920. Petain warned the Poles against this action as a dangerous challenge to the Soviet Union [EH, Letzte, 95].
27. Kalenda maja: "The feast of Venus Gen- etrix, which survives as Mayday [celebra- tion]" [SR, 18]; also, "a famous Estampida of Raimbaut de Vacqueiras (1180. 1207]: Kalenda maia / Ni flor de faira / Ni cant d'auze]']" [EH, Letzte, 90]. Wilhelm calls the Raimbaut work "a rousing South French dance song (the music survives) . . . ; it has much of the joy and verve that Pound associ?
ates with the pagan roots of Provengal song and the beautiful landscapes in Languedoc" OW, Later, 188].
28. Li Sao: C, "Farewell to Sorrow," an elegy by the poet Ch'u Yuan (c. 338-288 B. C. ).
he resorts to this one. If he had lived to know of the extraordinary genetic coding of DNA, he would have been even more over- whelmed by the sense of design and the depth of the mystery of life in process.
30. grass versus . . . : A friend of mine,
when asked what his brother was doing, said J he was paving New Jersey. At the present it rate, the entire nation may be paved more
hibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. " Pound conceived this article as justifying a major tenet of Social Credit: "local control of local purchasing power. "
39. As to sin . . . : Pound
about the time of Pope Innocent III and therafter, the church, taking cues from Au? gustine and a few others, developed and ac- cented the whole horror of sin, especially the so? called sins of the flesh, and the absur? dity of hell? fire as a punishment, in order to dominate the minds of the people. Before that, in Provence and Italy, religious activity accented celebration and rejoicing, dancing and singing [114:28].
40. malvagita: I, "wickedness, nastiness. "
41. Limone: Town on Lake Garda.
42. (scala altrui): I, "the stairs of another. " Cacciaguida says to Dante: "You will prove how salt is the taste of another's bread, how hard the way up and down the stairs of another man" [Par. XVII, 58? 60] .
Richard Era, 57].
Aldington
("Atthis") [HK,
II Giusto Prezzo Medioevak' Studio Econo? "~ mica Politica [The just price in the Middle Ages: Studies in political economy], pub. in
1913 [EH, Letzte, 83]. 35. Giustizia: I, "justice. "
36. Mountain . . . seeping: Return to Na? khi landscape [JP,Agenda, 9? 2 & 3, 62].
37. kindofignorance". . . :[101/725].
38. Article X: Of the U. S. Constitution reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor pro?
44. Daphne: [2:26].
45. Syrian onyx: A vessel that contained embalming unguents. In Homage to P. Pound wrote: "Nor will you be weary of calling my name, nor too weary / To place the last kiss on my lips / When the Syrian onyx is broken" [P,219].
46. Ixion: The overthrown sun-god who is bound to an eternally turning, fiery sun wheel in Tartarus [80: 168].
18. Dieudonne's: [74: 178].
19. long flank Sappho poem.
20. garofani: I, "clovetrees. "
London
restaurant
Reflections on the
"carnations"
or
Ii 29. intelligent
in any language to cover what Pound means,
~
quickly than one might think.
31. Schwundgeld: G, technical term in Ge? sen's theory of money: "inflationary de- crease in money value. " Compared here with the Continental currency used to finance the American Revolution. As early as that, the currency devised proved that money could
". ' serve as both a standard and a medium of exchange. The desperate fact in Pound's '~ mind was that neither economists nor politi-
cians could learn this simple fact. 32. Parsley . . . : [97:292].
: A central
33. body
34. (Sac
. . . . . .
soul:, [98:20]. guisto): Sac. L. P.
Carioli wrote
. . .
: Since
there is no word
. . .
thesis of the
43. God's eye
poem. Divinity, the light descending, works through the intelligence of man. God acting in the world is revealed at one pole by the intelligence in the cherry stone and, at the other pole, through the mind of man and man's perception of beauty (TO WADV); his creative powers and his sense of humor (hila- ritas); his powers of kindness, mercy, and justice; and his impulse to rejoice through dance and song.
believed that
? 722
114/791-792
114/792-793, 115/794, 116/795
723
1. Pas . . . Freron: P, "Not even FIeron, I hate no one, not even Freron. "
2, Froron: Eli F" 1718-1776, fought for throne and altar against the Philosophes and the Encyclopedists. His strongest attacks were aimed at Voltaire.
3. Voltaire: [65:108]. In Le Pauvre Diable [The poor devil] V. said: "The other day, at the bottom of a dale / A serpent bit Jean Froron / What do you think happened? / It was the serpent who died" [EH, Letzte, 87].
4. Mr. Law: [100:24].
5. Tom Pick: Timothy Pickering [62:156; 63:7].
6. respect a good book . . . : Major tenet in Pound's ideas about literary criticism
[ABCR,28-35].
7. 0 di . . . natura: L, "0 of the diversity of nature. " From Dialog Y, "Concerning Infini~ ty," in The Dialogs ofBruno [Torino, 1932, p. 64]. The original has "e" ("and") instead of "0. " The lines concern the multiplicity of heavenly bodies [JE, Pai, 3-3,414-415].
8. (Giordano Bruno): Italian philosopher, 1548-1600, who defied the religious think? ing of his time and was arrested late in the Inquisition and burned at the stake by the Church of Rome. His central thesis, that deity is an infinite principle manifest in man and in all creation in a hierarchy of values, rhymes with Pound's own beliefs.
9. belly-ache: Bruno reasoned in a way dif- ferent from Plotinus, who had stomach trouble [99/700].
10. Ari: Aristotle was employed by Philip of Macedon to educate his son, who was to become Alexander the Great. During those years and after, Aristotle became a marine biologist.
II. bianco c(h)ade: I, "white falls. " From
Cavalcanti's Canzone d'amore V, 8 [36:13; MIN, 394-395].
12. Oneida: Pound's Uncle Loomis, whom he associates on the one hand with the Onei- da Colony Gealousy) and on the other with horse theft (property). The Oneida Colony (1847-1879) was founded by John Hum- phrey Noyes (1811-1886) on a collectivist basis. The commune practiced "complex marriage," a system in which all members were married to each other [Noyes, Social- ism, passim; EH,Pai, 3-3, 413-414].
13. Macleod: Joseph Gordon M. , Scottish poet who in 1936 called Pound's attention to the difference between property and pos- session [L, 279].
14. (Sandro's, Firenze): "Botticelli's, Flor- ence" [20:19].
15. Mu4. 5: [M4593]:"wood. "
16. Fu Hi: Fu Hsi [53:3]. His emblem is the T-square. In the table of succession (or evolution), he belongs to the change cycle "wood," which corresponds to the "power of imagination and growth" [EH, Letzte, 88]. The "metal" in the table is associated with Shao-hao, Pound's "Chan" [53:35], hence the line [53/264] "Chan by metal. "
17. "Harve: A relative of Pound's.
Pound's grandmother (the Loomis side of Oneida County) provoked this memory: "I can re- member no phrase of hers save that once in a discussion of conduct, she said 'Harve was like that. ' The statement ended the matter"
[PD,II-12;37].
18. Sarah: S. Angevine Loomis, Pound's grandmother: "the old cat-head. "
19. niente: I, "nothing. "
20. triM: I, "stem (of a tree or family). "
21. Armes et blasons! : F, I, for "coat of arms" in heraldry.
30. Ubi arnor . . . : L, perception is" [90: 16].
"where love is,
there
CANTO CXIV Glossary
22. AI's: Albert Pound, great-uncle of the poet called Amos in Indiscretions [PD, 33-34].
23. Old Joel's: Joel Pound, great-great-uncle of the poet: "Joel lived to ninety-six" [PD, 16] and "Joel also I approved" [PD,44].
24. "Locke": [50:9,67:99]. 25. Del Mar: [96: 119].
26. Tanagra Mia: Town in Boeotia famous for female clay statues found there.
27. Ambracia: Town i. n ancient Epirus fa- mous in the reign of Pyrrhus [107:143;
29. T? TPCl. O&'KTVAO" H, "four-toed. " July 14th is prob. a personal memory. Whoever made the remark about the lizard's feet per- ceived something that would strike Pound as memorable, a rhyme with the child who noticed the German word for cat looked like a cat's head and tail: "Katze" [102:27].
109: 13].
32. Quelque toile . . . : F, "on some paint- ing, in the Louvre, on some painting. "
33. Boy in fruit shop . . . : Memory of boy Pound saw in Italy.
. . .
: [113:39].
Pound's
34. "bisogna spired. "
. . .
": I,
"one must
be in-
28. Fear
that demonology was part of a deliberate plot to "scare the hell out of' people, espe- cially the young, in order to maintain con- trol of the minds of men, even though such ethics are against all reason [LE,42-43].
. . .
2. Wyndham Lewis: [16:30]. 3. garofani: I, "carnations. "
1. Muss. : Mussolini.
2. Cuniculi: I, "canals" or "underground passages" [101: 16] .
3. An old "crank": Pound here is thinking of a dead "genius" in Virginia, from whom originates a theory about the origin of a giant footprint. This reminds him of Ode
4. Mozart,
Linnaeus:
[113:5,7].
1.
the Russian "Sputnik" for a while had the whole human race terrified, or seemed to when these lines were written.
The
scientists
:
Atomic
weapons and
theory
FROMCXV Glossary
31. hypostasis: [81:55].
35. William: Yeats. Sligo was one of his favorite Irish scenes.
36. Tigullio: The gulf Rapallo overlooks.
S. Sulmona: [103/736; 105/746]. Birth- place of Ovid in province of Aquila.
6. In meiner Heimat: G, "In my homeland. "
7. living . . . cardboard: Return to theme of early cantos [7:32-37].
CANTOCXVI Glossary
major
245 in the Shih-ching, where an immaculate conception is mentioned: Chian Yuan, wife of the Emperor K'u, becomes pregnant when she steps in the big toe of a giant footprint. She bears 'a son, whom she exposes. The child is saved by a miracle and receives the name, Hou Ch'i (ch'i means "someone ex~ posed"). Ch'i, under the mythical original
? 724
116/795-797, Frags 798
Frags 798-802
725
ruler Yaa, becomes leader of agriculture. At 98/690 he is mentioned as "john barleycorn Je Tzu" and at 105/747 as "Hou Je," with inadvertently exchanged Chinese characters [EH, Letzte, 85].
4. The Madonna . . . : [110: 1,45].
5. (Mucchio di leggi): I, "a haystack of laws. "
a squirrel, Perri [Donald Hall, Paris Review, Summer-Fall 1962, 27].
13. Laforgue: Jules L. , 1860-1887, French symbolist poet. He described the Berlin Aquarium as the symbol of Nirvana: "the mute depths, which only know eternity, for which spring, summer, fall, and winter don't exist" [Maralite legendaire Salome, 1888].
14. Spire: Andre S. [77:134; 81:23]. 15. in proposito: I, "for the intention. " 16. Linnaeus: [113:7].
17. chi crescera . . . : [89:2].
18. terzo: I, "third. "
19. Venere: I, "Venus. "
20. it coheres: [Pai, 2-1, 35; 8-3, 567; 109:17].
21. al poco . . . d'ombra: 1, "In the small hours with the darkness describing a huge circle" [5:53].
22. (Torcello): [110/780].
23. al . . . d'oro: Street in Rapallo
the intersection one can see a cross of blue sky.
24. (Tigullio): [114:36].
a treasure stealer. In solar myth the darkness that steals the day.
7. Hydra: The nine-headed monster slain by Hercules.
8. Paphos: Daughter of Pygmalion and Gala- tea, whose union was blessed by Venus. The city and groves named Paphos are sacred to Venus. Thus a rhyme with usury defiling the bed of "the young bride and her bride- groom" [45/230].
the carillon song at his house at Sant 'Am- brogio in the hills above Rapallo.
22. (videt et urbes): L, "and he sees cities. " 23. salita: I, "hill path. "
6. Litterae . nothing" [33:25].
Notes for CXVII et seq.
25. benedetta: I, "blessed. "
26. Brancusi's bird: A form in a tree on the lawn of St. Elizabeths reminded Pound of the famous statue.
27. Rupe Tarpeia: In ancient Rome, the Tarpeian Rock was the site on the Capitoline Hill from which criminals were thrown to their deaths [74/443].
28. Zagreus: [17:3;77:195].
29. Semele: [92:47].
30. M'amour . . . : F, "My love, my love. "
31. The dreams clash . . . : The last 3 sections of a book by Daniele Vare, erst- while ambassador from Italy to the United States, are entitled "Harvesting of a Dream," "Shadows," and "The Dream Shattered. " The book, The Two Imposters, records the personal memories of an Italian statesman whom Mussolini replaced with younger men. Its title comes from Kipling's "If' ("If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two imposters iust the same") and explains Vare's intent: to show both the triumphs and disasters of Mussolini and his Fascism. Since Pound believed that Fascism promised to result in a corporate state with debt-free money which would result in the creation of a paradiso ten-estre, it is appro- priate that the shattered dream become part
of the tragic ambience of the poem's close.
32. La faillite: F, "bankruptcy. "
33. Francois Bemouard: A publisher and fa- miliar literateur (friend of Remy de Gour- mont, Fritz Vanderpyl, and Pound) in the Paris of the 20s. His firm became bankrupt in 1929 [Sieburth, Pai, 4-2, 3, 329-332].
: L, "literature which heals
7. Justinian's: [94:45].
8. Crystal . . . acorn of light:
Neoplatonic light? philosophy seen through Grosseteste [Pai, 2? 3, 454; 74:249].
9. Twice beauty . .