The Anathemata
Rite and Fore-time (continued)
And over the submerged dryad-waysa
intensively his ray searches
where the alluvium holds
the polished neolithsb
and where the long mound inhumes
his neolithic loves
or the round-barrow keeps
the calcined bones
of these, his still more modern hallows
that handled the pitiless bronze.
David Jones notes
additional notes
a i.e. forests.
b It has been plausibly suggested (see Hague p. 81) that ‘neoliths’ is here a slip or misprint for ‘eoliths’. Firstly, eoliths (‘dawn-stones’) are the earliest chipped instruments that have been found, in alluvial deposits; though they are now generally regarded as having been fashioned by nature rather than by man. This preserves (or makes) a sensible chronological progression from the paleolithic through the neolithic to the bronze age round barrows. (‘Hallows’ is here a noun, the beati who handled the pitiless bronze.) Secondly, it would be unlike DJ to repeat the sounds of ‘neoliths’ and ‘neolithic loves’ when the suggested emendment would have better pleased his fastidious ear.
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