Carrol,
I was hearing in the lines an echo of "Knock, and the door shall be opened
unto you." The indefinite particle "a" did give Blunt a somewhat
other-than-individual-human quality, hence my taking him to be the "door"
(an opportunity? a new mode of understanding?) that opened up to Pound.  But
I think your reading of the elliptical syntax is better than my convolution.

What do you mean by "[light fighting for speed]"?  Reminds me of
_KATE'LABEN_ in John 1,5.  You did inquire about Manicheans a while back...

"With decency..."  -- I cannot dredge up from my memory a series of contexts
in which Pound has used the phrase "decency". My initial reaction is to read
it in the context of  "refined manners" which Pound seems to prize, at least
in some of his moods.  What brings you to think of this phrase in 18th c.
terms?

Tim


----- Original Message -----
From: "Carrol Cox" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2000 8:20 AM
Subject: Re: Canto 81


> [Sorry: I just sent a blank post]
>
> If I recall correctly, Blunt was widely ostrasized after he opposed
British
> entry into WW1 -- but Pound paid a social call on him.
>
> He is not metaphorically or other wise a door:
>
>         To have, with decency, knocked [on a door]
>         That a Blunt should open [it].
>
> I think the interesting word is "a": Does that make Blunt [merely?] an
> instance of a class? Throughout the *Pisan Cantos* EP is extracting a
> "tradition" [light fighting for speed] that can or will survive the
> wreckage. Does "decent" carry the force of "decorum": suitable, fitting --
> coherence of parts to whole, of whole to parts, of form and content, etc.?
>
> Carrol
>
>
> Tim Romano wrote:
>
> > "To have, with decency, knocked
> > That a Blunt should open"
> >
> > Is this an allusion to a specific visit  Why is Blunt (metaphorically) a
> > _door_?
> >
> > Tim Romano
>
>