The Anathemata
The Lady of the Pool (continued)
the bulled oar of
coasting currach,a but seldom go on a’ ocean-trip in a double- endedb sea-going nave, and as are, by a long journey, less upsides with the modrern rig of a blue-water carrackc than is our Lord Mayor’s pussy-cat and as like as not ’ld bend a’ ensign to a jack-staffd
and then
vow by their devil’s Davy Gatheren1 that Trojan Brutus learned them to fly ’em thus from halliardse of papyrus in the Third Age of the World.2
David Jones notes
1 St Derfel Gadarn (cadarn=potent) famous throughout medieval Wales, known in an English sixteenth-century rhyme as Davy Dervel Gatheren.
2 Cf. the fourteenth-century Flores Historiarum, a pseudo-history of the world from the Creation to AD 1326, The period covered is divided into six ages, the third age being from 1921 BC to 1055 BC. The coming of Brutus to Britain is placed in the twelfth century BC agreeing with the traditional date for the Fall of Troy in 1184 BC.
additional notes
b Homer often uses the adjective amphielissa to describe a ship. It may mean ‘curved at both ends’ or possibly ‘rowed on both sides’.
d ensign...jack-staff: the ensign is flown from the stern, the smaller jack-staff is flown from the bow.
DJ note 1: Derfel Gadarn was a 6th-century British Christian monk, regarded as a saint. Local legend holds that he was a warrior of King Arthur. For the rhyme and its context, see this article.
DJ note 2: for more about the Flores Historiarum, see Wikipedia.
see also
semantic structures
glossary
a currach; a small wickerwork boat covered with hides.
c carrack: a large Portugese ship used for trading or warfare.
e halliard: any of various lines or tackles for hoisting a spar, sail, flag, etc., into position for use.
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