The Anathemata
The Lady of the Pool (continued)
There was no sign at all
of her bonadventure.1
She seemed but dressed
for Breaker’s Yard
and, as she bring-to and were warped to her mooring
I saw water
coming from the right sidea, about midships; yet her list were heavy to her lade-board.
and as I looked I saw:
she were hulled, SEVEN TIMES.b
Yet fetching it
through all the fairs and fouls of:
the precessions
and heavenly conjunctions, eclipses, occultings and the transits of the Wanderers
behaviours of water-spheres and atmospheres, as: incidence of tide and peculiar pressures of the upper air.
Breezes
moderate to light, following zephyrs, light airs and dolphins and mild birds of calm.
Backings, veerings
dead calm
becalms.
Shifts of unshaping mist.
Thicked shapeless hours by muffle of grey fog
grey hauls of wind
more wind
strong head-wind walls of wind
half-a-gale o’ wind.
David Jones notes
1 Cf. bonaventure or bonaventure-mizzen, small mast positioned after the mizzenmast in many late medieval ships.
2 i.e, the left or larboard side, Middle Eng. lade-borde, the side from which the ship was ladened or cargoed up?
additional notes
a For the significance of the right side, see page 130.
b The Seven Sorrows are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art. In common religious Catholic imagery, the Blessed Virgin Mary is portrayed in a sorrowful and lacrimating affect, with seven daggers piercing her heart, often bleeding. The events are: 1. The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34-35) or the Circumcision of Christ 2. The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13) 3. The loss of the child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke 2:43-45) 4. Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary. (John 19:16-18) 5. Jesus dies on the cross. (John 19:25) 6. The piercing of the side of Jesus, and Mary’s receiving the body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57-59) 7. The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb. (John 19:40-42).
comments
Elen relates the story of how the Mary came to be in such a bad state as a result of a storm.