The Anathemata
The Lady of the Pool (continued)
In all the white chapels
in Lud’s town of megara1
when we put up rejoicing candles bright
when we pay latria
to the Saving Wood.2
About the turn of the year, captain, when he sings out loud and clear from his proper: in ligna quoque vinceretur3
twisting his cock’s egga tongue round
the Vulgar lingua like any Trojan licentious of divinity.b
And him but got within Billingsgate,
in Puddin’ Lane, on her that calls hot herring-pies—whose smile’s as sweet as her marjoram: what’s got her to church door three times without mention of her pre-history.c
And at the turn, captain, pridied the thirteenth and all, we carry out Chlorise as dead as a nail.4
David Jones notes
1 Cf. the meaning of the place-name Megara, ‘the temples’ .
2 Things as signs occasion the kind and degree of honour due to what they signify. The cross, considered purely as a sign, happens to be the specific and unique sign of God the Son the Redeemer of the World, and, as such, occasions divine honour, latria. To offer latria to the cross, crucifix or relic of the cross, qua sacred object, image or relic, would be idolatrous. But to offer anything less than latria to the cross, qua sign, would be to offer something less than latria to what is signified (namely the Redeemer) which would be insufficient, or rather, an impossibility. For which reason, using the inexact language of everyday speech, we say we pay latria ‘to the Wood’, because the word ‘wood’ or ‘tree’ here signifies the stauros, and the stauros is the singular sign of our Redemption. Cf. page 180 below.
3 See the proper Preface for masses of the Passion, used on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, ‘. . . and he that overcame by the tree on the tree might also be overcome. . .’
This feast, called in England Crouchmass or Holy Cross Day, when the wood of the cross is venerated, falls on September 14; so that it has relationship with the end of summer, September 12, and with the Ides of Autumn, the 13th, and with the Ember Days of September which themselves take their position in the liturgical cycle from the seasonal change in the cycle of nature; cf. the approximate concurrence of the other Ember periods with the beginnings of winter, spring and summer.
4 See preceding note.
additional notes
DJ note 1: Megara is a historic town in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens.
DJ note 2: according to Roman Catholic usage, latria (Greek: service) is the highest kind of worship, payable to God alone. ‘stauros’ is the Greek New Testament word for the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
DJ note 3: the Latin clause reads ‘et qui in ligno vincebat, in ligna quoque vinceretur. The full text of the Mass for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross may be found here. For Ember days, see page 125.
b The priest conducts the service in the Latin of the Vulgate (‘lingua’ = language, tongue). He was a descendant of Brut the Trojan and a had a license in divinity which permitted him to conduct services and preach.
Any erotic undertones in these two lines are probably intentional.
d His mother, who sold herring pies in Billingsgate, had been married three times.
e Chloris was the Greek goddess of flowers (equivalent to the Roman Flora).
see also
semantic structures
malapropism
glossary
a cock’s egg: cockney.
d pridie: the day before (Latin).
comments
Elen says that at Crouchmass in all London’s churches we venerate the Saving Wood as a symbol of Jesus and the Redemption.