Jerry Friedman [to
JM's "I'd always thought that the squat and frog-eyed emerald
case (line 238) had been a cicada's but the empty hulk was found
in cold March, on the day Hazel died. This suggested to me that
this insect had recently emerged from it: is it possible?]
I doubt it. The "case" would have lasted from the previous year, which I
think is possible.
JM: There are two notes ( to
lines 181-182 with the birthday July-cicada singing, and to line
238) where Kinbote employs a curious "present tense," in both
cases. In the first one, he
emphasizes the closeness of Shade's "waxwing/cicada,": "The bird of lines 1-4 and
131 is again with us. It will reappear in the ultimate line of the poem; and
another cicada, leaving its envelope behind, will sing triumphantly at
lines 236-244." For line 238, he'll
describe the envelope left on a tree trunk by an adult cicada and, while he
mentions Lafontaine he adds: "The
cigale’s companion piece, the ant,
is about to be embalmed in
amber."
From Kinbote's point of view, the cicada (in
238) has just emerged, inspite of the sleety March
day and, somehow, it also sings!
It doesn't seem to me that he is
considering the "cigale-fourmi" of the fable ( or "fabulating"),
but finding himself in agreement with Shade that "dead
is the mandible, alive the song."* (whose restauration is it? Hazel's?
Shade's own?)
(btw)Walter
Miale wrote ( in aswer to MR's lines on "poor old man Swift"): "As one
would expect, the Dean had a more encompassing view of his own death. Here's a
jolly bit of his poem on the subject..."
In the lines he quotes we
read Swift's reference to Britain's Charles II as if the King
belongs to the past:
"...And then their tenderness
appears,/ By adding largely to my years:/ "He's older than he would be
reckoned,/ And well remembers Charles the Second./ He hardly drinks a pint of
wine;/And that, I doubt, is no good sign....."
..........................................
* Somehow I see
a link with this line and CK's two variants, set down in a note
to line 596: "Should the dead murderer try to embrace/ His
outraged victim whom he now must face?" and,
later, line 895: "In nature’s strife when fortitude
prevails/The victim falters and the victor fails." Yes, reader,
Pope."