David,
 
I'm very glad you're getting something out of BARB.
I still think that the time-theme connects all other
themes on the deepest level, and illuminates the poem
from its most local structural units (as you've pointed
out, even use of meter!) to the largest architectonic
structures, that of an overarching tripartite structure.
 
You sound like an extraordinarily serious and  insightful
student and I expect you to come up with something new
and meaningful that will build on the best insights of
the past.
 
==Dan Pearlman
 
At 05:39 PM 6/11/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Dr. Pearlman
>
>I'm enjoying _Barb of Time_ ; I'm fascinated by your whole discussion of
>time--Dali's melting clocks have a whole new meaning for me now.  I'm only
>up to page 100 but already I've gained some new insights.  It occurs to me
>(because of all the talk lately about Pound's meter) that the struggle
>between artificial and natural time would have to constantly influence the
>poet's decisions as to the phrasing.  The meter itself seems to gain an
>almost semantic quality.
>
>
>You suggested this as a possible theme:
>A theme I would suggest would be the representation of
>Woman.  This undergoes drastic change: in the first XXX,
>he's seen as a "chaos," a biological something-or-other
>(I forget his exact phrase); whereas, by the time of the
>Pisans, she's become spiritualized, the intercessor,
>connected with moon-goddess and similar vs. the sun
>imagery.
>
>I'm going to investigate this next time a page through _The Cantos_
>
>Thanks again,
>
>
>
>
>Dave
>
Dan Pearlman                    Office: Department of English
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