NPPF: Notes Line 347-Line 348

[Scott Badger]

> Line 347: old barn
>
> "shed"
> OED shed -- "3. A covering; cf. shade n. 11."....
>
>
> "'curious Germans' who three centuries ago had been the fathers
> of the first great naturalists"
> Linnaeus?? And who are the "curious Germans" that eccentric Paul
> Hetzner atavistically echoes? Paul Hetzner, a German lawyer who
> published, in 1598, an early travelogue??
> http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/european/Travelsi
> nEngland/Chap0.html
>
>
> "Now he was walking with another companion."
> Kinbote has supplanted Hetzner as Shade's "ramble" partner of
> choice, proffering his own "monstrosities" and "pure inventions".
>
>
> "marrowskies"
> Fale Pire.
>
>
> "'Here Papa pisses.'"
> Doggedly demarks his den under the dogwoods of Dulwich....bring
> on the mongrel... There are several references to dogs in these
> paragraphs; the boy "trott[s]", the school newspaper acts like "a
> mischievous pup", as well as Shade's roll of faithful companion
> to Hetzner's rambles.
>
> See also page 141: "a damp corner consigned to the humble needs of nature"
>
>
> "dogwoods"
> Claimed as the wood from which Jesus' cross was made.
>
> http://www.efn.org/~bsharvy/edible3.html (under Cornelian Cherry)
> "The American goldfinch, robin, CEDAR WAXWING, hermit thrush,
> purple finch, red-eyed vireo, scarlet tanager, and wood thrush
> nest in dogwoods (Ortho: 32-33). Dogwoods are larval food for the
> spring AZURE BUTTERFLY."
> Of course...
>
>
> "willow herb, milkweed and ironweed, and teeming with butterflies"
> All three are larval host plants and/or nectar sources.
>
>
> "goldenrod"
> http://www.acorn-online.com/hedge/golden.htm
> "In the 19th Century, goldenrod was touted as a symbol of the
> United States. 'It symbolizes a country where the people rule,
> for many tiny flowerets are needed to make a perfect head, just
> as in our composite nationality many races combine to form the
> true flower of American manhood and womanhood'"
> *Iron*weed and *Milk*weed?....
>
>
> "hoyden"
> OED -- † 1. A rude, ignorant, or awkward fellow; a clown, boor. Obs.
> 2. A rude, or ill-bred girl (or woman); a boisterous noisy girl, a romp.
> Take your choice...
>
>
> "an extraordinary episode [...] in the year of grace 1876" ??
> Any other reference to this "episode" in the book?
>
> "Autoneurynological Patterns"
> Autoneury[p]nological? The OED sez, "having a hypnotic basis", so
> autohypnosis, though I don't get how "a paper ('on any subject')"
> is a "cunning strategy" for gathering data on AH patterns among students.
>
>
> "bull's-eye"
> OED -- 3. A lens, hemispherical or plano-convex.
> 4. A glass of similar shape inserted in the side of a lantern;
> the lantern itself;
> So, a lantern, though also suggestive of the "roundlet of pale
> light" that Hazel will shortly encounter.
>
>
> "Jane allowed me to copy out some of Hazel's notes from a
> transcript based on jottings made on the spot" Selective copies
> of a copy "based on jottings"...and note that "based on"...Hmmmm....
>
>
> "Scrappy and scrabbly"
> OED scrappy -- Consisting of scraps; made up of odds and ends;
> disjointed, unconnected.
> and..."Inclined to scrap or fight; aggressive, pugnacious, quarrelsome."
> Note the "pugnacious dash" of the light which scares Hazel into
> leaving the barn.
>
> OED Scrabble -- 1. intr. To make marks at random; to write in
> rambling or scrawling characters; to scrawl, scribble.
>
>
> "will-o-the-wisp"
> OED -- 1. = ignis fatuus; fig. a thing (rarely a person) that
> deludes or misleads by means of fugitive appearances.
>
>
> "The barn ghost seems to have expressed itself with the empasted
> difficulty of apoplexy[...] by the thick unwilling tongue."
> An epileptic seizure? Into the bee-hive again? In sharp contrast
> to the living Hetzner's natural lexical ease. Boyd argues in
> S&SPF that difficulty of speaking ties the apparition to Aunt
> Maude, who had suffered a stroke.
>
>
> "pada ata lane pad not ogo old
> wart alan ther tale feur far rant lant tal told"
> A couplet?...just one extra syllable in the second line, though
> someone more poetically sure-footed will have to comment on the
> scansion....how are those temples, Keith?
>
>
> "a shudder that all but dislocated her shoulderblades"
> Butterfly wings? See also page 143: "A shiver of *alfear*
> (uncontrollable fear caused by elves) ran between his shoulderblades".
>
>
> "The Beau and the Butterfly"
> The Pit and the Pendulum??
>
>
> "The torments of a Tamerlane
> The roar of tyrants torn in hell."
>
> >From Poe's _Tamerlane_:
> "So late from Heaven- that dew- it fell
>    (Mid dreams of an unholy night)
> Upon me with the touch of Hell,
>    While the red flashing of the light
> From clouds that hung, like banners, o'er,
>    Appeared to my half-closing eye
>    The pageantry of monarchy,
> And the deep trumpet-thunder's roar
>    Came hurriedly upon me, telling
>      Of human battle, where my voice,
> My own voice, silly child!- was swelling
>      (O! how my spirit would rejoice,
> And leap within me at the cry)
> The battle-cry of Victory!
> [...]
> And dimmer nothings which were real-
>    (Shadows- and a more shadowy light!)
> Parted upon their misty wings,
>    And, so, confusedly, became
>    Thine image, and- a name- a name!
> Two separate- yet most intimate things."`
>
>
> "the Earth would not merely fall apart, but vanish like a ghost, if
> Electricity were removed from the world."
> That capital E-lectricity brings to mind some other manifesting
> Forces....God, Love, the Muse, the Virgin, the Dynamo...
>
>
>
> Line 347-348: She twisted words
>
> "'spider' in reverse is 'redips'"
> See page 162: "Please, dip or redip, spider, into this book
> [offering it]".
> Those brackets make me wonder which author offers this advice....
>
>
>
> Scott Badger