NPPF - Canto Two Shade's maths

[MalignD at aol.com]

> <<"We have been married forty years.  At least
> Four thousand times your pillow has been creased
> By our two heads..."
> 
> Forty years = 14,610 nights.  So:
> 
> a) he's away from home a lot;
> b) they have separate beds and haven't visited each other more often than
> not
> c) Shade's maths isn't too good
> 
> "...four hundred thousand times
> The tall clock with the hoarse Westminster chimes
> Has marked our hour"
> 
> It could be the maths, as
> 
> Forty years = 350,640 hours
> 
> but perhaps that's close enough for poetry?
> 
> 
> James>>
> 
It seems to me certain that VN would have done the math.   It's possible that 
he allowed Shade to use the word "thousand" to mean "very many" and attach a 
number to it; it's possible that he meant to portray Shade as number-dumb; 
ut's possible that Shade meant to portray himself as number dumb, to the cause of 
his poem.

It's also possible you're onto something.



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