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There's a fine elucidation by David Chinitz of what Michael North observed about Eliot's nickname as Possum. Please look up p. 23 of TS ELIOT AND THE CULTURAL DIVIDE: https://books.google.com/books?id=z-G1zjPAWIwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false CR On Sunday, October 11, 2015, Nancy Gish <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Eliot grew up in St. Louis and summered in MA. His childhood was southern, > not mainly New England. It was not just "background." Somewhere he also > said that his city streets are in large part those of St. Louis. And so is > his river long after. > > Nancy > > >>> P <[log in to unmask] > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml',[log in to unmask]);>> 10/11/15 7:26 PM > >>> > I don't think it's that hard, Rickard. Eliot had a background in St. Louis > (the south) but adopted the Bostonian put-on. Epithets stick when they fit. > Brer rabbit didn't stick on Pound; he was much more a fox from Idaho. Cf. > "I left the insane asylum when I left the US." > P. > > On 11 Oct 2015 2:21 pm, "Rickard A. Parker" <[log in to unmask] > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml',[log in to unmask]);>> wrote: > > > > On Sun, 11 Oct 2015 12:09:30 -0700, P <[log in to unmask] > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml',[log in to unmask]);>> wrote: > > > > >Still not quite there. Lots of animals feign inactivity. Why choose > this one in particular? > > > > This one is a character in the Uncle Remus stories (Brer Possum). Pound > may have liked the characters and accents and wanted to play with them. > You're on the Pound list. Ask them. > > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Uncle_Remus_characters >