In a message dated 2/28/01 10:34:01 PM EST, [log in to unmask] writes:

> Now back to Dante's use of the word "figlia." As I mentioned, 
>  we seem to have a chain of studied word repetitions (the word
>  in this case is "figlia") that  finally lead to the
>  ultimate daughter : the Virgin Mary as the daughter 
>  (figlia) of her son (figlio). 

   This seems a very promising line of thought.

   A translation I have of the "La Figlia" epigraph is:
"By what name shall I call thee, O maiden"

   "Maiden" brings to mind the Virgin Mary. In the Aeneid, the maiden (in 
TSE's epigraph) turns out to be the Goddess of Love, again bringing to mind 
the Virgin Mary.

   A thought on the "weeping": If the "Weeping Daughter" is Mary, she is 
weeping for Christ and what humankind did to him. This could be TSE's way of 
universalizing the abandonment he is about to depict in the poem, in effect, 
saying that we abandon each other (or maybe just saying that men abandon 
women), causing Mary to weep at human folly. This reading would tie 
Christianity (from the title's allusion) to ancient writings (from the Aenead 
allusion) and cast it all in the context of the failings of humankind. Kind 
of an early version of TWL.

-- Steve --