The Anathemata
Keel, Ram, Stauros (continued)
Or vertical’d?
dendrona
for a torch-goddess?
asherab
to vermilion and incise?
Erect?
for the wheat-waves to be high?
for the sea-wattles to be full?
for the byres to be warm with breath, for the watering by precedence2 to be clamorous?
for the lover’s lass?
David Jones notes
2 Those who have watered cattle will remember that those animals tend to observe some sort of order of precedence at the drinking-trough. They will not easily allow ‘Daisy’ to drink before ‘Cowslip’.
additional notes
b ashera: a cult object. The next line is a reference to the condemnation of cult objects in the biblical book of the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 13: ‘[11]Now a carpenter that felleth timber, after he hath sawn down a tree meet for the purpose, and taken off all the bark skillfully round about, and hath wrought it handsomely, and made a vessel thereof fit for the service of man’s life;
[12] And after spending the refuse of his work to dress his meat, hath filled himself;
[13] And taking the very refuse among those which served to no use, being a crooked piece of wood, and full of knots, hath carved it diligently, when he had nothing else to do, and formed it by the skill of his understanding, and fashioned it to the image of a man;
[14] Or made it like some vile beast, laying it over with vermilion, and with paint colouring it red, and covering every spot therein;
[15] And when he had made a convenient room for it, set it in a wall, and made it fast with iron:
[16] For he provided for it that it might not fall, knowing that it was unable to help itself; for it is an image, and hath need of help:
[17] Then maketh he prayer for his goods, for his wife and children, and is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no life.’
see also
semantic structures
glossary
a dendron: tree (Greek).
comments
We return to the vertical’d tree, in contrast to the horizontal’d one of page 176. Erect, it reminds the poet of a tree set up for a torch goddess (possible Hecate, who is usually depicted with two flaming torches), of wooden cult objects, and of a fertility symbol for the corn, the catch of fish (in wattled pots), cattle, and the lover and his lass.