am 29.09.2003 16:11 Uhr schrieb [log in to unmask]  unter [log in to unmask]:

> In a message dated 9/29/03 9:51:57 AM EST, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>> somewhere I have read that the line
>>
>> "Simple and faithless as a smile or the shake of a hand"
>>
>> is a literal translation of an excerpt of French poem (I forget its author
>> -- Verlaine? I'll have to look it up.). It is one more example of TSE's
>> collage technique, and a sign of his erudition.
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>>
>> Gunnar
>>
>
> I believe Denis Donoghue mentions (in"Words Alone") that it's close to a line
> from a poem by Laforge (sorry if I misspelled his name).
>
> That being said, it's still worth discussing, of course, why TSE chose to use
> the line in "La Figlia".
>
> -- Steve --


We'll never know,

my dear Steve.

It must be part of what makes a genius, to integrate phrases (or as Duchamp
or Picasso did, shards and pieces of junk, "objects trouvés") into their
very own works of art, putting them into a wholly different context.

I unable to dissect poetry. To me it is a very personal experience, a means
to project all kinds of personal projections.

Memorizing helps me to gain approach to the meaning (MY meaning, that is).
"La Figlia", in my view, has a very powerful undercurrent of eroticism.

That breathless

"Her hair over her arms, and her arms full of flowers"
(barely covering her alabaster breasts...)

"Sometimes these cogitations still amaze
The troubled midnight and the noon's repose."



Cheers,



Gunnar


PS

The Facsimile Transcript of TWL is in front of me,
from 3 Declaration Pl.
Washington Crossing
U.S.A