casofile Wrote:
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> Ave, Cathexis!
>
> Yes, metaphor is the key. CAS is not discussing
> ways in which to kill snakes, but rather how to
> quiet the inner voices of doubt, self-worth, and
> our own mortality. I guess he could have said "We
> cannot drown our sorrows."
>
> Smith worked on "Soliloquy in an Ebon Tower" for
> many years, and in many ways it represents his
> poetic testament. Smith was in doubt of his own
> achievements, his success; he devoted his entire
> life for his art, yet seemed to receive little
> compensation or recognition for his service to the
> Muse. So what, then, is the point of all this
> effort? In the passage I first quoted he answers
> this question:
> "Yet for a toll so light, by Song transported, /
> To sail beyond Elysium and Theleme," and ending
> with "Thus we triumph, thus the laurel overtops /
> The upas and the yew; and we decline / No dolor of
> our votive doom." I believe that Smith is saying
> that the very act of imaginative creation is its
> own reward.
>
> It is a very poignant, philosophical poem, and of
> course rich in metaphor and symbolism . . . I
> recommend reading it through several more times
> with these themes in mind!
>
> "Be Thou in Tyrian Purple clad?" Yes indeed . . .
> in the same way Smith's prose is royally clad!
> Thanks for this!
> -Ron


A few small observations - the murex, though the not the "hilazon" (spelling various from Hebrew), the murex is the primary source for royal purple dye in ancient times, and is in great abundance to this day on the Western bend of the Mediterranean - the plural you mention does not occur in ancient texts, but always as a collective noun - in so far as my reading has discovered doing research on ancient Mizpeh (Tell-en-nasbeh) excavated in the early 20's and whose findings were eclipsed at the time by Carter's opening of Tut's tomb - Clark liked to use a certain "piling up" of images for affect which some critics have found redundant - as to "shivering" in the context mentioned, you would need to be on Boulder Ridge in the early AM with the valley fogs sweeping up the American River Canyon and pouring over the ridge in a powerful updraft to experience this kind of tremor - very real, I can assure you. As to the serpents - look up a little short story called "The Bosom Serpent" - which predates CAS - you will then get it - Ron has it correctly - the story makes it more explicit - Clark often expressed in later years the "curse" of the well-read writer is often remembering how others have used an image or word - sometimes productive, more often a barrier.

Thanks Ron & Calonian,

I'm not blind to metaphor - though perhaps relatively new to CAS.

Those litle murex (your usage) are actually pretty interesting creatures.
Though many, many might be crushed to yield a single border of blue for a
piece of clothing, a single murex will exude in response to irritation -
such as stroking it repeatedly. This would make the murex a "renewable
resource". But what really grabs my imagination is the vision of some Ancient
Tyrian Tidal Pool, strewn with Phoenician Nymphs, all laying about languidly
stroking their murex to provoke the muciodal exudence these brazen nymphs crave.
Nasty!

Cathexis

cathexis Wrote:
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> Thanks Ron & Calonian,
>
> I'm not blind to metaphor - though perhaps
> relatively new to CAS.
>
> Those litle murex (your usage) are actually pretty
> interesting creatures.
> Though many, many might be crushed to yield a
> single border of blue for a
> piece of clothing, a single murex will exude in
> response to irritation -
> such as stroking it repeatedly. This would make
> the murex a "renewable
> resource". But what really grabs my imagination is
> the vision of some Ancient
> Tyrian Tidal Pool, strewn with Phoenician Nymphs,
> all laying about languidly
> stroking their murex to provoke the muciodal
> exudence these brazen nymphs crave.
> Nasty!
>
> Cathexis


The ancients did not use the murex as a renewable resource, although the thought is interesting - The show, "The Naked Archaeologist" on the Hist. Channel has a show on the subject of the Sacred Blue used for the observant Jew's "fringes" - very good - as to the Nymphs, it is more likely they would be the "srokees" rather than "strokers" - It is also more likely the nymphs would have been from Miletus, though the Phoenicians may have let the girls off kitchen duty long enough to occasionaly "languor" - hmmm - look at Schizoid Creator for the most shivering use of "stroking" I have ever read - Clark had this one down cold - brrrr!

What, no birthday wishes for the Emperor of Dreams? and it's even Friday the 13th this year!
Cheers to Klarkash-Ton!

-Ron

Wow, I didn't know! Happy birthday, Klarkash-Ton! All hail the Emperor of Dreams, whose spells and philtres yet abide, and shall forevermore!

Indeed. Happy Birthday Clark! Everyday I read your stories not only am I entertained beyond my wildest imagination, but I feel as though a proper education has been bestowed upon my intellect. Thus, I become a more well rounded individual and story teller. I thank the gods for your conception. Maybe in the vast cosmos some alien god gazes upon our accidental existence, deciding to bestow favor.

cathexis Wrote:
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> Hi Ron,
>
> Could a mere acolyte dare to critique this
> rapturous paean?
>
> First of all "immarcesible" ought to be
> "immarcescible".
> (If this is a typo, then please nevermind).
> Another problem
> is the word, "murex" - is that in the original? It
> ought to be
> the plural "murices", (see citation below). Maybe
> the grammer
> is technically correct but is he really suggesting
> this vast
> celestial cloak was won from one lousy mollusk ?
> Finally there
> is, "aguish": The way it's used it would suggest
> "shivering mists"
> perhaps ? A mist seems a rather insubstantial or
> tenuous thing
> to be shivering. Imagine you walk outside on a
> cold winter's morning;
> Your cold breath is visible as you exhale. Your
> hands might shiver but
> would your cold, foggy, breath shiver as well?
> Just seems out of place.
>
> Okay, I'll fall on my sword now,
>
> Cathexis
>
> Citation:
>
> [dictionary.reference.com]
>
> –noun, plural mu·ri·ces
>
> Word Origin & History
>
> murex
>
> kind of shellfish which yields a purple dye, 1589,
> from L. murex (pl. murices ), probably cognate
> with Gk. myax "sea mussel," of unknown origin,
> perhaps related to mys "mouse" (see muscle and
> mussel ).
> Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas
> Harper

"murex" is used universally in the ancient literature as a collective noun - the Romans would been puzzled by "murices" and considered it an affectation since no such Latin plual exists - it is an anglicism - My reference for this is the excavation of ancient Mizpeh, (Tell-en-nasbeh) about 18 miles northeast of Jerusalem which was excavated following WWI using German aerial photos which clearly showed the wall - this dig was taken to bedrock and has subsequently been filled in to prevent souvenir hunting - I have had the privilege of working on this dig and studying its artifacts. It was one of Solomon's "fortified cities" (part of his military dictatorship), and
was the center for the manufacturing of Royal Purple dye (not to be confused with the sacred blue from the Halizon found in the Talmud) - the city was sacked by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century BC, but kept in business by the appointment of one Jaazaniah, whose signet (a small agate with a hole to allow it to be worn around the neck) with his name on it was found during the excavation and currently is on display in the Museum in Jerusalem (the only artifact found in Palestine with someone's name etched on it) - Curiously, the seal, meant to be pressed in wax on official documents (which abound in the correspondence discovered in Babylonia's vast official libraries - still in the process of translation) is cut as a reverse image - the basic principal of moveable type - a concept not expanded until 1454AD - nevertheless, innumerable documents attest to the orders for, manufacture of by this or that "House of Purple", shipping orders, manifests, invoices etc (the Babylonians were worse about "paper work" than we are) attest again and again to the usage as mentioned above - similarly - the documents of the Imperium (including one or two references in Suetonius) regarding purchase, sale, etc. are similarly numerous -

slight apology to those who wondered that I had not left birthday greetings - this is because I know that for Clark, April of 1892 was a far more significant date in his generation - please recall that his father was getting on in years, so for reasons which are not proper to discuss in polite company, his advent was due to a conjunction of unexpected proportions - He always said that he began life older than his contemporaries - he believed that his cognitive capacities had been in operation almost literally from conception. "Lhude sing cucu!

calonlan Wrote:
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> slight apology to those who wondered that I had
> not left birthday greetings - this is because I
> know that for Clark, April of 1892 was a far more
> significant date in his generation - please recall
> that his father was getting on in years, so for
> reasons which are not proper to discuss in polite
> company, his advent was due to a conjunction of
> unexpected proportions - He always said that he
> began life older than his contemporaries - he
> believed that his cognitive capacities had been in
> operation almost literally from conception. "Lhude
> sing cucu!

Amazing.

And also logical. Why celebrate the date of that belated moment when we are forced out into the cold?

Knygatin Wrote:
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> calonlan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > slight apology to those who wondered that I had
> > not left birthday greetings - this is because I
> > know that for Clark, April of 1892 was a far
> more
> > significant date in his generation - please
> recall
> > that his father was getting on in years, so for
> > reasons which are not proper to discuss in
> polite
> > company, his advent was due to a conjunction of
> > unexpected proportions - He always said that he
> > began life older than his contemporaries - he
> > believed that his cognitive capacities had been
> in
> > operation almost literally from conception.
> "Lhude
> > sing cucu!
>
> Amazing.
>
> And also logical. Why celebrate the date of that
> belated moment when we are forced out into the
> cold?

Screaming! to complete the thought

calonlan Wrote:
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> Screaming! to complete the thought

Aye. We are cast head over heels straight into a chaotic nightmare. In the manifested World people pull miserably at each other, and grapple at matter, in our insane struggle to get back to the Source. Occasionally on this madcap marathon from birth till death, we get glimpses of harmony and happiness, sparkling through the heavy matter.

Maybe the celebration of birthday, and funeral, should be switched. So we offer serious support and emotional comfort to our fellow beings on their birthdays. And joyfully celebrate death when we are finally freed.



All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

-Poe

Almost forgot to wish CAS a Happy Birthday today; Jan 13, 2016. And many happy returns!!!

-Ron