flemmings | (no subject)

Had to look up a line from Campion's 'When thou must home to shades of underground' which naturally led to a number of webpages discussing the poem, some of which seemed to be talking about, and quoting, some other longer poem entirely, and all of which took the last line, 'Then tell, oh tell, how thou didst murder me' completely literally. Which had never even occurred to me. They want to make this a Long Black Veil scenario, dead lover seeking revenge, and I always assumed it was the usual Catullan griping of a spurned lover complaining about She won't screw me. I'm still not convinced of the other reading, especially since at least one commentator misread tourneys as journeys and warbles on about how the poet is remembering all their good times together presumably before she did him in, and another maintains that the thou is actually an I, and the poet is considering his own future death. Which of course makes nonsense of the last line.

Ill-considered sip of Pepsi last night led to insomnia, so I looked at some of my Japanese grammar books on the uses of mono and koto, and when that failed to send me to sleep, started The Cricket Term. Which turns out to be the origin of that useful phrase, 'she so clearly could if she would, it's past belief the state she gets into.' Cricket Term is the last readable Forest, by me. The Attic Term has an unplaceable edge of hysteria to it-- well, not unplaceable, because a lot has to do with Patrick's reactionary Catholicism, but the Kingscote staff too seem a lot more demented than usual and the whole thing has a lowering atmosphere to it. I haven't read Run Away Home but from what I hear, it sounds like much of the same.