NPPF - Canto 4 - Notes

[Paul Mackin]

On Mon, 2003-08-11 at 18:04, The Great Quail wrote:
>


> 
> 965: "brown ament" -- Two interesting definitions: Webster's has " A species
> of inflorescence; a catkin." American Heritage has "A person with severely
> deficient intellectual capacity." I would assume Shade means the later, as a
> parody of a "brown study?" Or is "ament" the actual noun he couldn't think
> of earlier? 
> 
> 967-968: "consonne/D'appui" --  an intrusive consonant, something that Shade
> clearly does love. 
> 
> 977-978: "I'm reasonably sure that we survive/And that my darling somewhere
> is alive" -- Obviously meaning Hazel; a rather powerful admission at the end
> of the poem. 



The language of the poet seems particularly powerful and elegant in
these closing lines. Unless it can be demonstrated to me that, in the
over all scheme of the novel, John Shade's poem is completely and
totally irrelevant, I have to believe that Hazel is in some sense alive.
I think that much is expected of us.

> 
> 979-982: The irony of these lines is sharp, as Shade will be murdered this
> evening. 

But the irony applies to only one aspect of the poem's end, not even the
important aspect (I'm sure Shade feels) The question has never really
been earthy survival, but rather Hazel's other worldly existence. And
now Shade's as well.
> 
> 993 -- "A dark Vanessa" -- Nabokov's beloved Red Admirable butterfly.


This species of butterfly has appeared previously in the poem not as an
actual presence (think I'm right on this) but as something Sybil is
likened to. My Dark Vanessa. What role is there now for the particularly
beautiful and vivacious creature herself? 

I am here forcefully drawn back those earlier canto fairytale (fairytale
or fable) reversals. Hasn't a re-reversal now long overdue?

P.