24 ^ 25] five dots 1925 ‖ line space Coterie ‖ three asterisks AraVP ‖ six dots US 1920
25] underlined by Pound with diagonal strokes at corners ts1a (matching 24 ^ 25 [4])
27 creeping] feeding ts1
28 From] In ts1 Green;] Green. ts1
28 ^ 29] new page so line spacing indeterminate 1932
29 ^ 30] no line space ts1
30] no indent AraVP Alps.] Alps; ts1
31–33] inset (equally) AraVP
32–33] “other matter intruded on the purely religious”, glossing “other matter” as “the ‘modern’ or joltographic” Pound ts1a
33] line end with asterisk, indicating footnote (for American readers): * i.e. an endemic teashop, found in all parts of London. The Initials signify: Aerated Bread Company, Limited. US 1920
[Poem I 38–39 · Commentary I 509–16]
Le Directeur
Published in Little Review July 1917, then 1919+.
Title] LE SPECTATEUR 1919, AraVP
1 Tamise] Tamise! printings prior to 1925
2 près] pres US 1920
4] not AraVP
11 Bras dessus bras dessous] Bras-dessus bras-dessous 1919, AraVP
Mélange Adultère de Tout
Published in Little Review July 1917, then 1919+.
ts1 (Berg): leaf of lightweight paper accompanying Notebook. Carbon without accents.
Title] Mélange adultère de tout ts1 (with no accents), LR (with no accents on cover contents list), US 1920 ‖ all capitals, no accents 1919, AraVP, US 1920 3rd printing (1929) ‖ all capitals with accents 1925 ‖ all capitals with second accent only 1932 (because the first accent had been badly printed in 1925)
1 Amérique] Amerique LR, US 1920, 1925
4 à] á LR, US 1920
5 conférencier] conferencier LR, US 1920
6 banquier,] banquier; 1919, AraVP
7] enclosed in brackets 1919, AraVP
9 noir] noire 1919
14 tra là là] tra la la printings prior to 1925
15 jusqu’à Omaha.] jusque à Omaha; 1919, AraVP ‖ jusqu’ à Omaha. 1963 ‖ jusqu’ a Omaha. 1974
16 célébrai] 1925+ ‖ celebrai LR, US 1920 ‖ célebrai 1919, AraVP
17 une] un AraVP d’Afrique] LR, US 1920+ ‖ d’Afrique, 1919, AraVP
18 Vêtu] Vetu LR
20 côtes] cotes US 1920 3rd printing (1929) brûlantes] brulantes 1919, AraVP, US 1920 3rd printing (1929)
[Poems I 40–41 · Commentary I 516–19]
Lune de Miel
Published in Little Review July 1917, then 1919+.
ts1 (Berg): leaf of lightweight paper accompanying Notebook. Carbon copy, without accents.
Omega (private collection): single printed leaf, with a woodcut by Roger Fry on verso. From the type of 1919 and with text of early copies.
1 Pays-Bas] Pay-Bas 1974+ (error) à] á AraVP Terre Haute] Terre-Haute 1919
3 A l’aise] Deux epoux ts1 punaises;] poux. ts1
4 aestivale,] LR, US 1920+ ‖ aestival, 1919 early copies ‖ estivale, 1919 later copies ‖ estivale AraVP
5 écartant] écartent 1974+ (error)
7 relève le drap] rélève le draps 1919
8 Moins d’une] Pas meme une ts1 Saint Apollinaire] St Apollinaire ts1 ‖ Saint-Apollinaire 1919 ‖ Sainte Apollinaire AraVP
9 En] 1925+ ‖ In ts1, printings prior to 1925 Classe,] Classe’ LR
10 chapitaux] capitaux 1919 early copies tournoie] tourbillonne ts1
12 de Padoue à] a Padoue et ts1
13 Où] AraVP, 1936, US 1952, 1963 ‖ Ou ts1, LR, 1919, US 1920, 1925, US 1963 ‖ On 1936 proof se] l’on ts1 trouve] ts1, 1936+ ‖ trouvent printings prior to 1936 la] 1936+ ‖ le ts1, printings prior to 1936, 1936 proof (see Commentary) cher] chere ts1 1st reading
14 aux] a ses ts1 rédige] 1919, AraVP, 1925+ ‖ redige LR, US 1920
16 Saint] St ts1 ‖ Sainte AraVP
18 écroulantes la forme précise] ècroulantes la forme precise LR, US 1920
The Hippopotamus
ts1 (Beinecke): leaf of lightweight typing paper. Ribbon copy with Pound’s pencilled annotations. Described by Gallup in Yale Univ Gazette Jan 1976.
AraVP indents even-numbered lines.
Title] Vers anglais ts1
[Poems I 42–44 · Commentary I 520–25]
“US” epigraph] not ts1, LR, 1932 (including copies for the US), 1936 and subsequent British editions ‖
Similiter et omnes revereantur Diaconos, ut mandatum Jesu Christi; et Episcopum, ut Jesum Christum, existentem filium Patris; Presbyteros autem, ut concilium Dei et conjunctionem [Conjunctionem AraVP] Apostolorum. Sine his Ecclesia non vocatur; de quibus suadeo vos sic habeo.
S. IGNATII AD [AD 1919, 1936] TRALLIANOS.
1919, AraVP, US 1920, 1925, US 1936 and subsequent US editions, where this precedes the “British” epigraph
“British” epigraph] 1919, AraVP and subsequent British and American editions ‖ not ts1, LR
1 broad-backed] broad backed LR, AraVP
2 in] on AraVP
3 us] us, 1919, TSE’s emendation in Morley’s US 1920
4 He] Yet he ts1 with first word boxed and “X” by Pound, LR
5 Flesh and blood] Flesh-and-blood ts1, printings prior to 1925
7 While] boxed Pound ts1 ‖ But 1919 fail] err ts1 1st reading (error, anticipating the reading in 9) ‖ fail, 1919, TSE’s emendation in Morley’s US 1920
8 based upon] founded on 1919
10 ends,] ends; 1919
11 While] ts1, boxed by Pound
13 as also 25 ’potamus] potamus ts1, LR, 1919, AraVP
14 mango-tree] mango tree 1919, AraVP
16 Church] Church, 1919
18 Betrays] Is raised ts1 1st reading ‖ betrays ts1 2nd reading with capital added odd,] odd; 1919
19 rejoice] the Church ts1 1st reading
22 passed] past ts1, LR, 1919, AraVP
23 mysterious way—] mysterious-way AraVP
24 sleep and feed] feed and sleep 1919 ‖ sleep and eat AraVP
27 round him] came to ts1
28 God,] God AraVP
29 Lamb] lamb 1919 clean] clean, 1919
30 enfold,] enfold; 1919
32 gold.] gold; 1919
[Poem I 43–44 · Commentary I 522–25]
Dans le Restaurant
Published in Little Review Sept 1918, then AraVP, US 1920+.
ts1 (Berg): leaf of lightweight typing paper accompanying Notebook. Carbon copy with comments and changes by Pound. Some accents added in ms by TSE and Pound, but all missing in 2, 6, 11, 15, 16, 22–24, 27–30.
LR deeply insets 3–5 and 8–19, with 15 and 20 (“Mais alors · · · Mais alors”) aligned halfway across the page. AraVP insets 8–19 only slightly, and does not indent 20 quite so much as 15.
Title Restaurant] restaurant ts1, LR
1 garçon] garcon ts1, US 1920, 1925
2 doigts] doights 1932 proof, corrected TSE
3 fera] sera ts1, corrected by Pound
4 soleil,] soleil AraVP
7 te] ts1, US 1920+ ‖ t’en LR, AraVP ne bave pas] ne pas baver ts1, with “de ne pas | ne baves pas | Je t’en pris, au moins | ne bave pas” by Pound
8 trempés] toutes trempés ts1 1st reading ‖ toutes trempées ts1 2nd reading ‖ touts trempés ts1 final reading ‖ tout trempés LR, AraVP
11 Elle] printings prior to 1925, US 1936, US 1952 ‖ Ellé 1925+ (error). The enduring misprint probably derives from an instruction to add the acute accent to the first letter of the following word, which was missing in US 1920, from which 1925 was set (see McCue 2012a). était] etait ts1, US 1920 primevères] primaveres ts1 ‖ primavères US 1920
12 taches] tâches ts1, printings prior to 1925
14] 1936+ ‖ Elle avait une odeur fraiche qui m’etait inconnue, | Et j’eprouvais un instant de puissance et de delire”. ts1 ‖ Elle av
ait une odeur fraîche qui m’était inconnue,—” LR (with fraiche), AraVP ‖ J’éprouvais un instant de puissance et de délire. US 1920, 1925
15] half page indent ts1, AraVP ‖ single indent LR, 1932+ ‖ triple indent US 1920, 1925 lubrique, à cet âge …] lubrique— LR, AraVP
15 ^ 16] line space LR, AraVP
16] indented (to range with 17–19) printings prior to 1932 ‖ no indent 1932+
17] bracketed Pound ts1 peloter,] peloter, amicalement ts1 ‖ péloter, LR, AraVP
18 quittée] quitté LR mi-chemin.] mi-chemin; ts1, LR, AraVP
19 dommage.”] dommage. ts1 1st reading (the added punctuation may be French »)
19 ^ 20] line space ts1
20] half page indent ts1, AraVP ‖ triple indent US 1920, 1925 (aligned with 15) 1932 (deeper than 15) vautour!] 1936+ (with the “o” marked for possible deletion and “?” Curtis’s 1936) ‖ vautour. LR, AraVP ‖ vautur! ts1, US 1920, 1925
[Poem I 45 · Commentary I 526–28]
21 te] ringed by Pound ts1 du] Pound ts1, LR+ ‖ de ton ts1 1st reading
22 crâne.] crane, ts1 ‖ crâne, LR, AraVP
23 De quel] Pound ts1, LR+ ‖ Quel ts1 1st reading payes-tu] as-tu a ts1 ‖ te paye Pound ts1 ‖ paies-tu AraVP
25 Phlébas,] Phlébas ts1 1st reading Phénicien] Phenician LR pendant] LR+ ‖ etait ts1 ‖ fut pendant Pound ts1
26 Oubliait] Oubliant ts1 ‖ Oubliat Pound ts1 les cris] ts1 1st reading, LR, US 1920+ ‖ le cris ts1 2nd reading (error) ‖ le cri AraVP des mouettes] de muettes ts1 1st reading la houle] l’ecume ts1 1st reading, changed to final reading by both Pound and TSE
28 très] tres US 1920, 1925
30 pénible;] 1925+ ‖ penible, ts1 ‖ penible. LR ‖ pénible. AraVP ‖ penible; US 1920
Whispers of Immortality
Published in Little Review Sept 1918, then 1919+.
Eight tss (Berg): eight leaves of lightweight typing paper accompanying Notebook. March Hare prints the five typings in full.
March Hare This ed.
First typing: A ts1a
B ts1b
Second typing C ts2
Third typing D ts3a
E ts3b
Fourth typing F ts4
Fifth typing G ts5a
H ts5b
ts1a: ribbon copy, heavily annotated by Pound. At the foot TSE wrote: “Do you think this is worth doing anything to? It is very scrappy. I feel that it ought to be remodelled, if at all, entirely in the third person. Also the first two lines of the fifth verse wont do, they are conscious, and exhibit a feeble reversion to the Laforgue manner. Minor: breastless and lipless.” Pound suggested titles: Night Thoughts on immorality or Night thoughts on Gautier, and on the verso he summarised the stanzas, one below the other: “Webster | " | Done | Gautier | " | f | g | h”, the last three braced with “general statement & conclusion no pipit”. Also: “Predelections maccabres | or the maccabre predilections”. Against the third stanza he wrote: “a | b | transition”. Other jottings by Pound are illegibly deleted.
ts1b: carbon annotated by Pound.
ts2: ribbon copy of another typing.
ts3a: ribbon copy with part numbers, I at head and II before “Grishkin is nice …” Some annotation by Pound.
[Poems I 45–48 · Commentary I 528–34]
ts3b: carbon on which Pound has written “A.” beside 11–12 and “B.” beside the last stanza. These are explained in a page by him typed on paper headed “5. Holland Place Chambers, Kensington, W.”:
“SODOMY!” said the Duchess, approaching the Ormolu clock.
If at A. you shift to “my” i.e. your “experience” you would conceivably reach Grishkin’s Dunlap tyre boozum by the line of greatest directness.
If at B. you should then leap from the bloody, boozy and Barzeelyan Jag-U-ARRRR to the Abstracter entities who would not have resisted either the boozom or the “smell of baked meats”, you could thence entauthenexelaunai to the earlier terminer
But I must crawl, etc. metaphysics warm.
having in the lines precedent used your extant rhyme in “charm”, applying same to either boozum, odour, or enticement of the toutensemble
om [pencilled false start, before typing resumes]
Omitting fourth stanza of present Nth. variant.
wash the whole with virol and leave in hypo.
At any rate, I think this would bring us nearer the desired epithalamium of force, clearness and bewtie. EP
ts4: ribbon copy.
ts5a: ribbon copy, with some annotation by Pound.
ts5b: carbon.
Valerie’s Own Book: fair copy (three pages), with two-line spaces between stanzas.
On the basis of differences in the paper, Rainey 198 assigns ts1–ts4 to 1917, and ts5 to 1918.
AraVP indents even-numbered lines. 1963 erroneously ranged the first page of this poem (1–24) to the left margin (US 1963 set all the poems this way).
Title] not ts1, ts4; TRY THIS ON YOUR PIANO | WHISPERS OF IMMORTALITY ts3
1 much] pre alt by Pound ts1a death] death; ts1, ts2 ‖ death, ts3
2 And saw] He saw ts1, ts2 ‖ and saw Pound ts1a ‖ who saw Pound ts2 ‖ Seeing ts3 ‖ who he saw Pound ts5a
3 And] The Pound ts1a ‖ “? The” Pound ts2 ‖ or while Pound ts5a under ground] underground 1919
4 backward] “image ? | backward | up " [ditto signifying upward] | Looked Toward [six or so illegible words, del]” Pound ts1a, all del lipless] “canine?” by TSE with “dachshund” by Pound ts1a ‖ ringed with “canine” by TSE ts1b
5 balls] eyes ts2 1st reading (error)
6 the eyes] “the” underlined Pound ts1a ‖ “? their” Pound ts5a
7 limbs] bracketed Pound, with “?” ts1a
[Poem I 47–48 · Commentary I 529–31]
Third stanza, with variants listed below each version:
ts1:
I think John Donne was such another
10
With passions chiselled out of stone;
He found no substitute for death
But toothed the sweetness of the bone.
with “a | b | transition” Pound ts1a (perhaps referring to rhyming and to the position of 11 after his deletions)
9 I think] ringed Pound ts1a
10, 12] del Pound ts1a
11 He] ringed Pound with who ts1a death] sense ts1a 2nd reading, ts1b 2nd reading
12 toothed] underlined Pound ts1a
ts2:
I think John Donne was such another
10
Who cracked the marrow now and then.
Our sighs pursue th’ elusive shade
But these w[e]re really serious men.
9 I] Who 1st reading (error)
9–10] with “clutched ?” in margin by TSE
10] ringed Pound with who found no substitute for sense
11–12] del Pound
ts3, ts4:
Donne, I suppose, was such another
10
Pursuing sense within the sense
To seize and clutch and penetrate.
Expert beyond experience
10] with “Or do you prefer the original line? This one however more coherent—in fact it is the whole idea” ts3b; Who found no substitute for sense Pound ts3a
11 penetrate.] penetrate: ts4
12] Expert beyond my experience Pound ts3b (see description of ts3b for Pound’s comment); This passes my experience. ts4
ts5 is as the published text, with variants as follows:
10 sense,] 1936+ ‖ sense ts5, LR, 1919, AraVP ‖ sense; US 1920, 1925, 1936 proof
11 penetrate;] 1936+ ‖ penetrate, ts5, LR, 1919, AraVP, US 1920, 1925, 1936 proof
12 experience,] US 1920+ ‖ experience ts5, LR, 1919, AraVP
10–12] TSE to Bonamy Dobrée 17 Nov 1930: “It’s ALL wrong; please read COMMA after sense, SEMI-COLON after penetrate; and COMMA after experience. That’s better” (Tate ed. 85).
[Poem I 47–48 · Commentary I 531–32]
13–16] not ts1, ts2, ts4 ‖ with “too many possessives?” by TSE and stanza then del apparently first by EP then by TSE ts3b
13 marrow] marrow, ts3
16 ^ 17] no dots ts1–ts4 ‖ five asterisks ts5 ‖ four asterisks LR, 1919, AraVP ‖ eight dots US 1920 ‖ five dots 1925+ ‖ five “x”s Valerie’s Own Book
17 Grishkin] Grisk 1st reading Valerie’s Own Book (error) nice:] nice; ts1-ts3, LR, 1919, AraVP
19 Uncorseted,] comma altered to semi-colon then back to comma, apparently by Pound ts1a
20] caret mark beneath line added ts1a bliss.] bliss; Pound ts3a
21–28] not ts1, ts2
21–24] not ts3, ts4 ‖ typed in margin as alt to 25–28 ts5a and ts5b with “alternative” added in each, then del from ts5b. (Alternative stanzas became successive stanzas.)
21/25] comparing the alt stanzas, Pound del Brazilian in 25 then wrote “but stet the sleek couched” ts5a. At the foot of the leaf TSE jotted “sleek spotted / sinuous / sleek couched sinuous / couched detensive” (last word presumably for “defensive”)
22 Compels] Can charm ts5 1st reading marmoset] marmoset, 2nd reading ts5a
23 With subtle] Distilling ts5 1st reading
24 Grishkin] And Grishkin ts5 maisonnette;] 1936+ ‖ maisonette. ts5, Valerie’s Own Book ‖ maisonette: LR, 1919, AraVP ‖ maisonette; US 1920, 1925, US 1936, US 1952, some post-1969 imps. of Sel Poems, Valerie’s Own Book 1st reading. OED has “maisonette. Also maisonnette”, remarking “The correct spelling with -nn- is rarely found.”
25 Brazilian] ts3–ts5, US 1920+ ‖ and sinuous LR, 1919, AraVP
26 not] not, ts3 its] his ts3, ts5 1st reading, LR, 1919, AraVP arboreal] aboreal 1963, US 1963, 1969 (error, corrected in reprints of 1969 and in 1974 but persisting in US editions. See McCue 2012 Proposal 3). gloom] gloom, ts3
27 so] the ts3 ‖ the ringed by Pound with so ts3a rank a] strong rank ts3