The Anathemata
Angle-land (continued)
whose own the Island’s approaches are
that kept her?
Was the Foreland?
was the Elbow?
under fog.
He might have been deeped in the Oaze!1
Or
by the brumous numen drawn on
or
in precleara visibility
by the invisible wind laboured
it might have been Dogger or Well
to bank her a mound
without a sheet to wrap her
without a shroud to her broken back.
Past where they placed their ingas-namesb
where they speed the coulterc deep
in the open Engel fields
to this day.
How many polesd
of their broad Angle hidage
to the small scattered plots, to the lightly furrowed erwau,2
that once did quilt Boudicca’se róyal gwely?3
David Jones notes
1 Cf. Oaze Deep, an area of water so named in the mouth of the Thames.
2 Erwau, plural of erw, acre; érr-wye (err as in the Latin errare), accent on first syllable. Not in fact an acre or any fixed unit, but land equally divided among the members of a plough-team under the Celtic system of co-aration.
3 gwely, gwel-ly, bed, but also used of the collective lands of a group. Typical Celtic ploughing was less deep than that of subsequent invaders.
additional notes
Foreland: North Foreland, a chalk headland at the eastern end of the Kent coast.
The Elbow: a sandy ridge situated about 2 miles east of North Foreland.
Dogger Bank: a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about 100 kilometres (62 miles) off the east coast of England.
Well Bank: another sandbank lying about 110 kilometres (70 miles) east of Hull. The boat is now some way up the length of Britain and some way out to sea.
b Saxon English place names ending in -ings denote either a patronymic or a group designation.
d A pole is a unit of length, 5.5 yards (5 metres), but is often used as a measure of area of 1 (square) pole, i.e. 30.25 square yards or 25 square metres. A hide was enough land to support a household, usually between 60-120 acres (24-48 hectares). A hide of good land was smaller than one of poor quality.
e Boudicca was a queen of the British Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. Born in Wales in 30 CE, she killed herself rather than be taken by the Romans in battle in 61 CE.
see also
semantic structures
glossary
a preclear: very clear.
c coulter: a ploughshare that can cut and turn the sod.
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