ROSE OF T!jE WORLD A STUDY OF THE SOUL IN A RECENT POETICS Jchn William Scoggan B.Sc. Carleton University, Ottawa, 1968 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of E.nglish @ JOHN WILLIAM SCOGGAN 1973 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY July, 1973 VOLUME I APPROVAL Name : John Scoggan Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Charles Olson's Imago Mundi Eramini ng Committee: Chairman: Dr. S .A. Black ~ar~hMaud Senior Supervisor Robin Blaser Evan Alderson Arthur Stone Assistant Professor Department of Mathematics Simon Fraser University Date Approved: July 25, 1972 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE f hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behaif or for cne nf its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of ~hesis /~issertation : Rose of the World: a study of the soul in a recent poetics Author- : John William Scoggan (name ) December 11, 1973 ABSTRACT This thesis is about the Gold Flower which has always stood for the sources of the human soul. We attempt to cover a knowledge of the Gold Flower as it appears principally in the works of Dante Alighieri, Hilda Doolittle and Charles Olson, thereby allowing us to see the mediaeval and pre-mediaeval iconology of the Flowering as a background to a recent poetics. The purpose of the thesis is to comprehend a use of imagery in a recent poetics. The poetics of Hilda Doolittle's War Trilogy; but especially the poetics of Charles Olson's Maximus Poems. Both are very much influenced by a mediaeval Christology which we attempt to portray in these pages. The War Trilogy has been very poorly understood until now, though its importance is undisputed in poetics after 1910 (in the era of Pound and Eliot). It is the work we shall use as a vehicle with which to penetrate the mediaeval representation and meaning of the Yellow Flower. This will eventually lead us to a reading of the Divine Comedy and thereby to a proper understanding of the Imago Mundi which exists at the heart of Olson's Maximus Poems. Much has been written about Olson's poetry from the standpoint of its historical realism as great epic poetry. This is implicit in Olson's works,.which refer specifically to historical facts throughout. What has been overlooked, somewhat, are the purely imaginative and metaphysical levels of the soul which are the most important and difficult events in The Maximus Poems. Olson has not broken away from the traditional beliefs of a formal theology; rather he has encorporated that theology (Christian- ity) into his own experience of a contemporary landscape Massachusetts, physically speaking. But as an envisioned landscape of the soul that City is eternal, located outside of time and history. It is the City of Light wrapped in the petals of the Yellow Flower, whose ideal form we are about to reveal. A metaphysical place of the soul which houses a purely imaginative level of knowledge that has yet to come into 'being,' in fact. This metaphysics of experience is absolutely central to an appreciation of Olson's poetics. Having looked at the Gold Flower as an image of Deity in the works of Dante, H.D. and Olson, we shall enter into a section of inquiry called MYTHISTORY, where history is viewed as the temporal exhibition of the envisioned City Upon a Hill. The City is the Civitas -Dei manifest in the Flower of Creation, which is founded and built in a terrestrial paradise on earth. It is the City which also exists in the works of the three poets under study. I wish to acknowledge the help given by Professors Ralph Maud and Robin Blaser. And I thank Bryant Knox for his work on photography. I wish to put together an imaginary nation. It is my belief that no other nation is possible, or rather, I believe that authors who count take responsibility for a map which is addressed to travellers- of the earth, the world, and the spirit. ~achissue is composed as a map of this land and this glory. Images of our cities and of our politics must join our poetry. I want a nation in which discourse is active and scholarship is understood as it should be, the mode of our understanding and the ground of our derivations. Robin Blaser The Pacific Nation Vancouver, B.C. June 3, 1967 IT DOES TAKE A MOLE TO JOIN GLOUCESTER TO THE NATION THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 11th LXIX Charles Olson. - vii - TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ARCHAEOLOGY origins of landscape Part I: Deglaciation and the Wet Period Part 11: Gate & Center of the Polis; the Emergence of the City THEOLOGY drama of the heart Part I: H.D.'s WAR TRILOGY A. Quest for the Oil of Mercy B. The Mary Tree C. Sona of Sonss D. Flowerina of the Rod E. Giotto: the Arena Chapel Frescoes COSMOLOGY post-modern belief "MAXIMUS, FROM DOGTOWN - 11" The Secret of the Golden Flower The Padma. The Dream. Mary's Gold Flower COAL BLACK EYES OF CREATION The Jill Flower Jacob ' s Ladder CLEAR, SHINING WATER viil - AQUARIUS Drum and Drum Stick Horse Travel to an Otherworld The Dogmatic Nature of ~xperience The Holy Mass of Carbon and Light IV. MYTHISTORY geography of the soul The Life of space The Imago Mundi The Behaim Globe of 1492 Terrestrial Paradise The Western Gate A E R on Dogtown INNOCENCE: Beginnings The Fra Angelico Vision A City Upon A Hill V. REFERENCES VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY VII. APPENDICES A. The Sumerian King List B. Artificial Paradise C. The Gate of Horn my+&A,,= ,- CaAL,~le- Byre The Suer Marshian6 III. Lathor and fsis of the Papyrus Yirsn IV. Eathor Dendritl s Hathor Gendriti- s Hathor- Dzndriti s Hathor Dendriti s VIII. Artemis of Eghesus (~climas::ros) IX. Papyrus Columns of the Luxar Ten2le Osiris in the Djed Piliar XI. Alabaster Trough from Uruk Mudhif sf the KarsYi Arab Arab Marshland XIV. Marshland Floodscap. Reed aoats in a Karsh Worl6 "Charon Crossing the Styx," 5y Joacnin Patinir 88 Capricorn, in "The Tenptatlon of Christ," by the Master L. CZ. 90 Scor:3io in "The Temgtation of St. L-J Anthony," by Lucas Cranhch Scoqion-tiorses of the Beakus Apocalypse of Saint-Sever 52 . - Plces, the Christiar, Ichtkys, iz z ~at~l~ of "The Last Judgemel>t, " by Ci~stoSi Kenabuoi 96 XX. 13-tk cel?tury mosaic ,. Eaptis-kry cf S. Giovanni, Florence iij5 "Virgin and Chiid," school of Schongzuer XXIVb. "Madonna and Chi16 with Saints in -";,~e Enclosed. Garden, " S;7 zhe Master of ~l6rnalleand assistants 133 XXV . Enbiems of the Virgin . Reliquary Cover, 17th century, French ;e; German tapestries of the Holy Hunt. Unicorn Legend a~dthe Song of Songs 141 Mary ~enhritis. In the Tree of Jesse 154 XXVIII. Tree of Jesse 155 XXIX. Celestial Dynasty of David-Xary-Christ, fi~urcdas the Tree of Jesse 156 XXXa . Crucifixion. San Clemente, Xone 15-5 Giotto: Arena Chapel Frescoes 175 ? -. ,- XXXc . Giotto: Arena Chaps1 Frescoes ;!D XXXI . Celestial Hierarchy ~ccordingto Dionysius-Areopagite, froa the Erevlary ol S. Kildegarde, 9th century 239 XXXI I. The Angelic Descent, from Robert FPudZis XXXIII. Thrones. (a) dztail from "The Last 2~dgemer.t~" by Francesco Tr~ini. (b) detail of the "Lasc Judgemenr," Torcello Cathedral 215 XXXVIII, Collecting Water from the Sacxed Trce XXXIX. Collecting Water from the Sacred Tree XL. Collecting Water from the Sacred Trez XLI. Collecting Water fron the Streams o? Heaven XLII. Thoth and 3orus pour Streams of Life (Ankh-crosses)- over the deceased Image- soul XLIII. The Flowing Vase XLIV. Coliectin'3 Water froz the God of the Flowing Streams XLV. Deities of the Fiowing Vase XLVI. God with Streams XLVII. Watering the Sacred Tree in the Flowing Vase XLVIII. Horse Travel to an Otherworld XLIX. Salvator mundi holding the EarthLy Orb- as Cosmocrator L. Behain Globe of 1492 LIa. True Terrestrial Paradise LIb. hrtificlal T. Paradise LII. rnlk i- Fouritzin in Bosch's "Gzxdec of Ezrthly Delights" LIII. Topogra~hyof the Sub-Lunary Korld according to Dante LIV. Emergence from Hell to Ante-Purgatory 455 Crossing the Western Ocean to the New World of Purgatory d Uiarica 459 LVI . Fra Angelica's "Last Judgement" 520 LVII. The Golden Gate into the City on a Hill in Terrestrial Paradise of Fra Angelico's "Last Judgement" 521 LVIII. Goddess of the Metropolis 537 LIX. Lucifer Cannibal of the Dantesque Hell 541 The Perpetually Downtrodden on the Sandals of the Pharoah Tut-Ankh-Amon 542 LXI . The Horns at Knossos 684 FIGURES 1. Flowering Rod. Stone Papyrus Column from the temple of Neuserre Abusir 2. Cattle with Deformed Horns from Tombs of the Old Kingdom, at Lwor and among the Dinka and Nuer 57 3. The Gate of Horn at the entrance to an Otherworld of the Cattle Byre 80 4. Spread of the Horse-Complex 353 5. 8.-legged Sleipnir. Odin' s Horse 366 6. Dante's Pear-shaped Image of the World 454 7. The Downtrodden Under Foot & the Phenomenon of Spiritual Bondage 547 - xiii - MAPS Map one.