Monday, March 17, 2014

WLEM AM

Where the race is not always to the swift.



O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
         Of marble men and maidens overwrought

5 comments:

MamaM said...

"Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them."

So sayeth the Koheleth (meaning "Gatherer", translated as "Teacher" or "Preacher".

ricpic said...

Okay, looked up brede. Dictionary says it's the archaic word for embroidery.

So I guess Keats is referring to a marble frieze, Greek circa 500 BC, of yutes (both sexes) intertwined.

Youth worships beauty, worships itself,
Doesn't want to be bothered by the irrelevant old;
Greece worshipped beauty, worshipped itself,
Didn't want to be bothered: went belly-up I'm told.

MamaM said...

Thanks for looking, ricpic. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have. The Attic shape alone was enough to cause halt before the intertwining of embroidery with overwrought took place.

deborah said...

Ricpic, the carving is on an urn, and no intertwining takes place. One of the main themes of the poem is that the boy chasing the girl can never catch her, but the poet consoles him saying:

"Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!"

MamaM said...

...the carving is on an urn, and no intertwining takes place...

There are those who not only claim the use of "brede" refers to the twining of a braid, like a braid of hair, they also go so far as to declare the lovers to be "braided" together in the chiseled marble, which is a wild image".

Who's to know how and where the intertwining occurs? Unless of course, one could actually see that Attic vase through something other than the mind's eye, the poet's words and the reader's imagination; walking around the main theme and embellishments on little cat feet before settling on certainty might be the way to go.