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Indeed, I cannot see any other way to read it grammatically unless Pound is both Urania and a midwife performing both acts. It is quite exact syntactically that a male Urania begat TWL on Eliot and that this being a difficult pregnancy to get out, Pound performed the caesarean section to remove it--there being, one presumes, no birth canal in a male mother. Nancy Date sent: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 12:50:32 EST Send reply to: [log in to unmask] From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: the Uranian muse again In a message dated 3/1/01 11:45:41 AM EST, [log in to unmask] writes: > Browning's Sordello and Ezra Pound by Stephen Brown > Doctoral Dissertation Index Page > > As Wayne Koestenbaum proves, the > poem goes on to make clear the analogy between Eliot and Pound's > collaboration on The Waste Land and the homosexual act. I have the Koestenbaum book (at home, not here), and I wouldn't use the word "proves". As I remember the book, Koestenbaum begins by quoting the same lines of "Sage Homme" that Nancy did: These are the poems of Eliot By the Uranian Muse begot; A Man their Mother was, A Muse their Sire. How did the printed Infancies result From Nuptials thus doubly difficult? If you must needs enquire Know diligent Reader That on each Occasion Ezra performed the caesarean Operation Koestenbaum then states that these lines clearly mean that POUND is declaring HIMSELF (i.e., Pound) the male muse of TWL. I think that's a basic misreading. I read the lines the same way that Nancy does, namely, "the Muse is also made male along with Eliot the male mother. Pound's male-nurse role is simply a third to make the seemingly impossible birth possible." That is, Pound is a third party (a male mid-wife) to the birth of TWL, a poem conceived (according to "Sage Homme") between the artist (Eliot) and his male (Uranian) muse. -- Steve --