Dear Jacob Korg:

I almost failed in the flood of mails to recognize your message
addressed to me.
Answering to your question, what I wrote in the former post
all comes from Ruthven's A Guide to Ezra Pound's Personae
(1926) , UC Press 1969,  as I noted.
Ruthven's comment on the poem (The Alchemist) is not so
much extensive but very interesting. I'd like to suggest you would
access to this book.
Particular source Pound found these names is not mentioned
in the comment. But it looks like some of them are not
uncommon. Alcmena, Briseis, and Alcyon belong to Greek
mythology. Aelis, Tibors, and Audiarda are found in Provencal
literature.
Alchemy is established by Rimbaud as a common metaphor
for the poetic process, according to Ruthven, and "the theme of the
poem is that sequences of beautiful names, when chanted,
will have the magical powers of the elusive Philosophers' Stone."

best wishes

Hideo Nogami

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Jacob Korg
> Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 9:44 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Enigmatic names in early poems
>
>
> I'm sorry to be so late in thanking you for this information about the
> names in The Alchemist. Is any more specific information available? Did
> Pound find these names in any particular source?
>
> On Thu, 18 May 2000, Hideo Nogami wrote:
>
> > I found descriptions in Ruthven (p.32-33)
> >
> > Sail de Claustra was a twelfth-century Provencal Poetess.
> > All the women's names other than this in this poem occur
> > fictitiously in the literature of southern Europe.
> > Pound is using these names merely for their beautiful sounds.
> >
> >   Hideo Nogami
> >   studying
> >   Ezra Pound and art history
> >   nonprofessionally
> >   [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine
> > > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Jacob Korg
> > > Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2000 6:12 AM
> > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > Subject: Re: Enigmatic names in early poems
> > >
> > >
> > > What are those names in "The Alchemist",Collected Early Poems, p.225,
> > > beginning Claustra, Aelis,Azalais.etc.?
> > >         And also,What is OM MANI PADME HUM,p.283?
> > >         I'd be grateful for enlightenment.
> > >
> >
>