The Anathemata
Sherthursdaye and Venus day (continued)
But the fate of death?
Well, that fits The Gest:a
How else be coupled of this Wanderer
whose viatic bread shows forth a life?
—in his well-built megaron.b
If not by this Viander’s own death’s monument
by what bride-ale else lives his undying Margaron?
—whose only threnodyc is Jugatined
and of the thalamus:e reeds then! and minstrelsy.
(Nor bid Anubisf haste, but rather stay:
For he was whelped but to discern a lord’s body).
David Jones notes
additional notes
a Gest, geste: the high deeds of a heroic person (medieval French). There is a similar ending to In Parentheses: ‘The geste says this . . .’ The Anathemata celebrates the supreme geste.
b megaron: royal palace. The pun with margaron (pearl) is repeated from page 56, where it is associated with Helen of Troy.
c threnody: a song, hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person.
d Jugantine: see page 241.
e thalamus: in ancient Greek houses, an inner room reserved for the woman of the house; hence (in this context) bridal chamber for the union of Christ and his church.
f Anubis: an ancient Egyption god of the dead, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. As Hague points out, there is a reference to the Nativity, too, here: Milton writes, in the Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity (which DJ’s father read to the family every Christmas morning) ‘The brutish gods of Nile as fast / Isis and Orus, and the Dog Anubis haste’. The purpose of these gods in the poem is to recognise and make plain the body of the true Lord.
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The fate of death: the idea (found throughout St Paul’s writings) that through his life, death and resurrection, Christ has overcome death and so we can too.