University of Virginia Library

VI. KEEL, RAM, STAUROS

169, the section's title page. The Ancient Mariner is behind a number of forms used in this section & elsewhere in ANA. The Ancient Mariner is one of the clues to ANA? DJ to DC 3.iii.53.

The substance of this very important gloss David Jones took from a letter he had just written to Desmond Chute. The poem's Part VI, which he glosses here, largely concerns a cosmic ship crewed by "the true-hearted men so beautiful" (175), who recall Coleridge's "the many men so beautiful" ("The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", line 236). The bride in "The Ancient Mariner" is also aboard, where girls are "red, and as / roses-on-a-stalk" (179). Of her Coleridge writes, "red as a rose is she" (line 34). The other ships in The Anathemata, which partake of this world-ship, are all in some way or

other the ship of the Mariner. The Phoenician ship of Part II, for example, arrives at Cornwall after "a weary time a weary time" (98), words describing the ordeal of the Mariner's vessel (Coleridge, line 145). And like that vessel, the medieval Mary endures "vengeance of white great birds", and "wraith-barques" (142).

170.1 "Did he hear them . . .?" the old padrone

In this gloss David Jones identifies the man in the text as the Greek captain called, later in the poem, "the old padrone" (182). The captain's being old typologically equates him with the Ancient Mariner. All the poem's sailors partake of the Mariner-figure's symbolic age, including the "ancient man" to whom Elen Monica delivers her monologue (166, cf. Coleridge, line 39) and the Welsh boatswain about whose "antique" comparisons Elen says "you could not choose but hear" (154, cf. Coleridge, line 18).

171.16 "He's some rare chinas" rhyming Cockney slang for mate: china (-plate).

'China plate' rhymes with 'mate': the rhyming word 'plate' drops out and the word 'china' is used by itself to indicate 'mate'. See In Parenthesis, page 36: "Sorry mate—you all right china?"

172.11 "the're all in the swim" for they're

173.5 "if not the cod's-eye man?" Cf USA folksong: 'she wants the cod's eye man!

The poem alludes to the sea-shanty more correctly known as "The Hog's-Eye Man," in which the hog's eye is a euphemism for the vulva. This song, bowdlerized for the ingenuous reader, appears in Shanties for the Seven Seas, Stan Hugill, ed. (1961), p. 269.

173.13 "Down" Keel

From here to the bottom of page 175, the Keel is contemplated as the structural foundation of the world-ship and a symbol, therefore, of the divine Logos sustaining the world and of Christ, the Logos incarnate, who redeemed it.

174.24 "or stanchioned and 'tween decks" as p 176

The stanchioned or upright wood is that of masts. In this gloss David Jones identifies it with the mast which is a "gibbet" for men condemned to death; this gibbet is the only vertical wood mentioned on page 176.

175.25 "To be set up" Ram

From here to the middle of page 178, the principal subject is a number of siege engines being transported aboard the ship.

178.11 "or vertical'd?" Stauros

From here to 180.20, upright cult-objects—typologically synonymous with the Christian cross, the stauros in Greek—are considered in their ritual significance and as objects of veneration.

179.14 "the swaithed incurable that crept unseen" and lepers too

The names in the text are those of Phryne of fourth-century B.C. Athens, and Lais, one of two Corinthian courtezans of that name—one in the fourth century B.C., the other in the fifth century B.C. Their names serve for any women of loose sexual morals who, nevertheless, worship with real devotion in "churches & temples".

180.21 "Recumbent for us" Coda

From here to 181.2, the significance of the Keel and its relationship to the cross-signifying masts are recapitulated. The glosses—"Keel" (173.13), "Ram" (175.25), "Stauros" (178.11) and "Coda"—are written large and in pencil, apparently on a single occasion and to designate the structural components of the central meditative interlude that interrupts the consideration of the Greek captain which opens and closes this section of the poem.

181.3 "Ship's master:" [Jones's underlining] = sodden, tough but efficient & at base kindly skipper who berths em to schedule & is thus a type of St Peter & of O. Lord & of Manawydan the sea-god? cf 'who do you think is master of her? Shanty p 182.

The ship's master is first of all the Greek captain whose vessel is entering its berth in Athens' Phaleron harbour (see 53.11 above). He corresponds typologically to Manawydan, Welsh sea-god and latter-day folk hero who appears later in the poem in what seems a Welsh-Norse version of the parable of the pearl (199-201, cf. Matthew 13). Manawydan, in The Mabinogion's "Manawyddan mac Llyr", is a redeemer-figure.

The question "Who d'you think is Master of her?" is asked on page 53 of the poem, where the ship is the Supper room and Christ its master. The question originally appears in the sea-shanty "Shallow Brown", which is echoed again on page 182.

Here as elsewhere in the marginalia, David Jones writes his gloss in the form of a question. This is not necessarily an expression of uncertainty, for often where he uses the question mark in a gloss he is more assertive in a corresponding letter (see 141 and 169 above). In any case, he seems to be glossing as a reader of his poem, not as its author, his tentativeness possibly being in deference to the free speculation of subsequent interpreters of The Anathemata.

182.3 "the vine-juice skipper." cf sea-shanty: 'the Lime-juice skipper'

The gloss quotes words from "Shallow Brown" that are altered in the poem because the Greek captain is perpetually drunk on wine. In this he recalls Christ's prototype, Noah, who "drank . . . wine" and "was . . . drunken" (Genesis 9:21 ff), and conforms to the type of Christ himself, the "winebibber" who scandalized the Pharisees (Matthew 11:19).

182.15-16* "He would berth us / to schedule" pro. sked-ule

The word is meant to be pronounced as spelled in the gloss.