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Re: Edsel Ford and conjuring nebulae in two lungs
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Dear Matthew,
The only volume of Edsel Ford's poems in the UCSB library is the Shiloh
one. It is not in there, nor in the recordings (LC, I think), nor in the only
poems in a poetry journal published by Belloit College. Much of his
stuff was in
out-of-the way places and much else self-published. I suspect the poem is real
but the real mystery is where VN would have run across it.
Best, Don Johnson
Quoting NABOKV-L <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU>:
> 1. Has anyone (here on the list or elsewhere) tracked down the Edsel
> Ford
> poem excerpted by Kinbote?
>
> 2. In lines 615-616, Shade is describing "the exile, the old man / Dying
> in
> a motel" and says: "He suffocates and conjures in two tongues / The
> nebulae
> dilating in his lungs." My questions: Does "two tongues" refer to
> languages? Medically speaking, what are nebulae and how do they dilate
> in
> the lungs? What does it mean to "conjure" them?
>
> With gratitude,
> Matthew Roth
>
> --------------------------
>
> It's funny how, once deep in the thickets of PF, everything I
> read seems to relate to it somehow. I've been reading some
> Edsel Ford and came upon this beautiful little sonnet called
> "Serenade." It made me think of Kinbote there alone in his
> motor lodge in Cedarn.
>
> Serenade
>
> I have sat here for God knows how long
> While eight o'clock dripped into a green bowl
> And the wet dusk released its humid song
> And an unnamed bird with a throatful of soul
> Broke its heart open in the myrtle bush.
> I have grown nearly friendly with the hush,
> As I grew nearly friendly once with God
> Until he wished for me to go apart
> To teach in a strange tongue, and there I trod
> An unfamiliar earth that had no heart,
> Whose peoples knew me not (for they were holy).
> Now I sit where eight o'clock drips slowly
> Into a bowl, and where a bird is wringing
> Silence like damp fabric from the bush where he was singing.
>
> (The Stallion's Nest, 1952)
>
> Matthew Roth
>
> [EDNOTE. A few more thoughts on the name "Edsel Ford." Would his name
> have appeared alphabetically before Frost's in the index to some
> contemporary volume of American poetry? Is the alphabetical sequence of
> the first name followed by the surname important? SES]
>
> Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
> Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
> Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
> View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
The only volume of Edsel Ford's poems in the UCSB library is the Shiloh
one. It is not in there, nor in the recordings (LC, I think), nor in the only
poems in a poetry journal published by Belloit College. Much of his
stuff was in
out-of-the way places and much else self-published. I suspect the poem is real
but the real mystery is where VN would have run across it.
Best, Don Johnson
Quoting NABOKV-L <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU>:
> 1. Has anyone (here on the list or elsewhere) tracked down the Edsel
> Ford
> poem excerpted by Kinbote?
>
> 2. In lines 615-616, Shade is describing "the exile, the old man / Dying
> in
> a motel" and says: "He suffocates and conjures in two tongues / The
> nebulae
> dilating in his lungs." My questions: Does "two tongues" refer to
> languages? Medically speaking, what are nebulae and how do they dilate
> in
> the lungs? What does it mean to "conjure" them?
>
> With gratitude,
> Matthew Roth
>
> --------------------------
>
> It's funny how, once deep in the thickets of PF, everything I
> read seems to relate to it somehow. I've been reading some
> Edsel Ford and came upon this beautiful little sonnet called
> "Serenade." It made me think of Kinbote there alone in his
> motor lodge in Cedarn.
>
> Serenade
>
> I have sat here for God knows how long
> While eight o'clock dripped into a green bowl
> And the wet dusk released its humid song
> And an unnamed bird with a throatful of soul
> Broke its heart open in the myrtle bush.
> I have grown nearly friendly with the hush,
> As I grew nearly friendly once with God
> Until he wished for me to go apart
> To teach in a strange tongue, and there I trod
> An unfamiliar earth that had no heart,
> Whose peoples knew me not (for they were holy).
> Now I sit where eight o'clock drips slowly
> Into a bowl, and where a bird is wringing
> Silence like damp fabric from the bush where he was singing.
>
> (The Stallion's Nest, 1952)
>
> Matthew Roth
>
> [EDNOTE. A few more thoughts on the name "Edsel Ford." Would his name
> have appeared alphabetically before Frost's in the index to some
> contemporary volume of American poetry? Is the alphabetical sequence of
> the first name followed by the surname important? SES]
>
> Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
> Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
> Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
> View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm