________
the way to bring humans back to life,
it was time to turn to the creation, or
recreation, of other species
The rest of animals, from teeming Earth
Produc’d, in various forms receiv’d their birth.
the rest of animals suggests that
people were also considered to
be animals, of an however more
elevated, presumably, order
The native moisture, in its close retreat,
Digested by the sun’s aetherial heat,
As in a kindly womb, began to breed: ,
Then swell’d, and quicken’d by the vital seed.
by means of the moisture naturally
created by the retreating flood waters,
the native moisture, the heat of the sun,
however aetherial, or etherial, which is
to say of ether, which is to say invisible,
swell[s], and quicken[s] … the vital seed,
the seed which is pregnant with life, or
vital, and nurtures it, swell[s] and
quicken[s] it, as though within a womb
And some in less, and some in longer space,
less, or longer space, of time
Were ripen’d into form, and took a sev’ral face.
different kinds of animals, animals with
sev’ral face[s], see, for instance, above,
ripen’d, or evolved during longer or
shorter periods of time, a notion that
was decisively revisited some nearly
two thousand years later, incidentally,
Thus when the Nile from Pharian fields is fled,
an island off the coast of Alexandria,
notable for its lighthouse, itself called
And seeks, with ebbing tides, his ancient bed,
his ancient bed, the area of earth
that the Nile had covered during
the flood, its now exposed river
banks
the Nile is, note, masculine here,
his ancient bed
The fat manure with heav’nly fire is warm’d;
there’s the heat again
And crusted creatures, as in wombs, are form’d;
crusted, it is interesting to note that
apart from the animal feature of the
womb, all of the terms to describe
the process of coming to life refer
to plants, see also ripen’d above,
for instance, not to mention the
vital seed
These, when they turn the glebe, the peasants find;
glebe, cultivated land, when the
peasants plough their fields, they
find [t]hese, the crusted creatures
Some rude, and yet unfinish’d in their kind:
Short of their limbs, a lame imperfect birth:
One half alive; and one of lifeless earth.
not all births are successful
For heat, and moisture, when in bodies join’d,
The temper that results from either kind
Conception makes;
life is the product of heat, and moisture
sparking, quicken[ing], matter, bodies,
a succinct postulation, a metaphysical
observation, presaging the 17th Century’s
turn toward the natural sciences, Galileo,
already, and not inaccurately, from the
it often appals me what was lost of
significant information during the
Middle, the Dark, the Annihilating,
Ages
and fighting ’till they mix,
Their mingled atoms in each other fix.
Thus Nature’s hand the genial bed prepares
With friendly discord, and with fruitful wars.
generation is a struggle between
chaos and order, at the most
fundamental level, according to
From hence the surface of the ground, with mud
And slime besmear’d (the faeces of the flood),
get down
Receiv’d the rays of Heav’n: and sucking in
The seeds of heat,
you can hear the squelch here,
the slim[y] suction
new creatures did begin:
Some were of sev’ral sorts produc’d before,
But of new monsters, Earth created more.
among the new creatures, many
had existed earlier, been already
produc’d, but new monsters as
well sprouted, apparently
inescapably
Unwillingly, but yet she brought to light
Thee, Python too, the wondring world to fright,
she, the Earth
Python, a mythological serpent, which
guarded Delphi, brought back to light,
or life, the wondring world to fright
And the new nations, with so dire a sight:
So monstrous was his bulk, so large a space
Did his vast body, and long train embrace.
Whom Phoebus basking on a bank espy’d;
patron deity at Delphi
E’re now the God his arrows had not try’d
But on the trembling deer, or mountain goat;
Phoebus had never needed to try[ ]
his arrow[ ] at anything other than
game, trembling deer, … mountain
goat
At this new quarry he prepares to shoot.
Though ev’ry shaft took place, he spent the store
Of his full quiver; and ’twas long before
Th’ expiring serpent wallow’d in his gore.
it wasn’t easy
Then, to preserve the fame of such a deed,
For Python slain, he Pythian games decred.
Pythian games, games installed, decreed,
decred, to honour the slaying of the serpent
Where noble youths for mastership shou’d strive,
To quoit, to run, and steeds, and chariots drive.
to quoit, to throw a ring in a game in
order to encircle at a distance a peg
The prize was fame: in witness of renown
An oaken garland did the victor crown.
nothing other than a crown of oak
leaves, an oaken garland, was the
enough to assure the fame, the
glory, of the exalted champion
The laurel was not yet for triumphs born;
a crown of laurel leaves, rather than
of oak, eventually became the symbol
of triumphs
But every green alike by Phoebus worn,
Did, with promiscuous grace, his flowing locks adorn.
but until the laurel crown prevailed,
an honour associated later, notably,
winners still sported with
promiscuous grace, the green, the
colour of Phoebus‘ chosen leaves,
in that god’s honour
will describe the transformation of
particular people into other
entities, trees, animals, stars, very
constellations, but for now the
Creation is complete, the Giants’
War concluded, and the Earth
replenished, given new life
I suspect that from now on I’ll only
intermittently comment on some
of the stories in this extraordinary
collection, for this poem is ever as
long as the very Bible, the only
other Creation myth, incidentally,
in the West, a task I expect I’ll
follow mostly on my own, given
my admittedly idiosyncratic, often
maybe too forbidding, inclinations,
inspirations, interests
but thank you so much for having
listened in, partaken, during this,
to my mind, fascinating exploration,
this conversation with, I think,
enlightening, and indeed
ennobling, art
all the very best
R ! chard
