Week 12 - April 30
Shekhinah
and Merlin
1. Begin with
"Emigration"(Wilner 3-4)
"the
long indemnity of all/who work for what will never wish them
well"
&
"Elegy for a Writer" (61-63)
"If things are wrong/it's up to us at least to get it down
and get it right"
2. What if
the myth poems were NOT in Shekhinah -and in fact the book
was titled something besides Shekhinah (ie. dwelling or settling
place: ie the holy spirit i./e the feminine attributes of the
presence of God I n Judaic and Christian myth)
Why did Wilner decide to have Shekhinah preside over the book:
how did that change the writing of the book and our reading of
it?
"Eleusis"(7-10)
'Eris, the Goddess of Discord" (11-13)
"The World is Not a Meditation"
"Strange pair to put against the blare of sirens/on the
news"
"Concerto" (26-27)
vs.
"A Short History of Philosophy" (48-50)
vs.
"Caryatids" (74-76) "Daughters of Midas"
(85-86)
"Labyrinth" (78-89) "In Media Res" (98-99)
"The Continuous is Broken, and Resumes" (100-101)
3. Merlin
-with a little help from Mrs. Jung and Tolstoi
"A
pang of guilt crosses my mind as I think how little direct educational
advantage my charges received at my hands. Of what use in the
twentieth century are the old stories of Tristrem and Palamedes,
the Questing beast, and the Deeds of Lancelot…..?"
(Tolstoi 2)
a. Merlin
as Myrddin, the last of the druids
see pictures ( Tolstoi 16-20 my pages_)
b. Merlin ala Taliesin (Jung 3)
c. Merlin as Medicine Man, as Mercurius (Jung 4)
… he is the one who can bring the unconscious problem
of opposites up into consciousness and in this way act as
the lightgiver.." (Jung 2)
4. Small groups:
a. add one
alchemical element into your poems
b. imagine one magical act you'd like to perform - and a spell
for it
Assignment:
choose a presiding spirit for your next book of poems (ala Shekhinah
or Merlin)
End with a reading from The Afallenau (Black Book of Carmarthen
text)
"Sweet apple with sweet branches"
& The Oianau
"O little pig, a happy pig
Do not burrow thy lair on top of a mountain…"
& "So Quietly the World" (Wilner 28-30)
Read:
excerpts about Hadidan from "HARMLESS Poisons, Blamel;ess
Sins"
and bring them to workshop next week
