Richard,

Thanks.  My understanding is that the tone marks in the Cantos aren't
necessary, but that he was highlighting the fact of the tones (they'd be
necessary in transliteration, but not with the character) as a pointer
to verse music.  I think I got the idea from one of the essays in "Ezra
Pound and China", but don't remember which one, so my memory could be
faulty - it's not uncommon for me to confuse my own musings while
reading a text with my memory of the text.

And my knowledge of Chinese is less than slim so I definitely won't
stand on it.

I don't remember "The Venice Poem" -- can you point me to which volume
of Duncan's it's in?

Richard Seddon wrote:

>Dirk
>
>Thanks for your ponderings.  It will take a while to digest.
>
>Regarding Pound's use of tone marks.  Didn't sense require him to?
>
>The Duncan poem in which he reportedly used tone-leading of vowels is "The
>Venice Poem".
>
>Rick Seddon
>McIntosh, NM
>
>
>