From: "Andy Robertson" 
Subject: Re: (urth) CWilliams
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 09:12:43 -0000

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" 

> Hartshorn wrote:
> The horror! The horror!
>
> (See, he was right.)

Sarky!

> Ummmm.... While I agree that the Emperor of P'o-Lu
> is a very powerful  image, I'm not as certain as you of
> several things here ... beginning with the idea that Williams'
> poetry was "Catholic."

OK, "Catholic" in the catholic sense then.


> Second, I am not as certain as you that the headless Emperor of P'o-Lu is
an
>
> image of the tribal leader deified. He is, I think, an image of
>a demon  deified; of the reality that lurks behind an idol.
> His being headless is the


Complex.  The real-life Emperor represents a combination of tribal leader
and religious leader elevated to godhood.  Williams' headless Emperor is a
demonic image of this.

>
> key here: he is an Authority with no authority, with, indeed, no mind at
> all.
> (I have occasionally wondered whether Williams was familiar with HPL's
> Azathoth, but that's a separate matter...) His servants are not humans but
> octopotowockles of some sort: details slip my mind.


Giant octopedes.   R'yleh cannot be far away,  IA!!!   CTHULHU  FTHAGN!!!


>
> Third, I am not as certain that the word "Catholics" is the correct word
to
> use when you say "Catholics regard this with horror." I think that
> Christians

Humble apologies


>
> All that aside, I very much second the recommendation of Williams'
Arthurian
>
> poems, which I have been reading, and occasionally understanding, for a
> quarter  of a century now. These poems were praised by both
>  CS Lewis and TS Eliot - and
> when these two agreed on anything about poetry, it was a
>  momentous occasion.


It is a pleasure to find someone of a like mind.    (( Shall I post a few of
the poems here?   Or not? ))


    hartshorn





--