Interesting thoughts, Louis! Though I don't see any connection to Spain in the passage in question, you do nudge me to think about the phrase "scaled invention," which I haven't examined closely till now. He is undoubtedly thinking of Order, proportion, the musical scale, but (without excluding the possibility of meaning you suggest below), I see the phrase now as another *military* image in this passage. What is Pound seeing by way of "scales" in the green world? The lizard? The segmented exoskeleton of insects? In any case, a protective covering that has been imitated throughout history in military armament, from medieval armor to the modern tank. I think EP is looking with irony at the comparatively clunky, from an esthetic point of view, human imitations of the natural forms here. ==Dan At 06:08 AM 8/24/00 -0400, you wrote: >Hi all, > >"The ant's a centaur in his dragon world"!! > >I've enjoyed the exploratory form that debate on this line has taken, by >all involved, concerning this line, and offer the following inklings of a >reading, hoping it's not (over) done already. > >"Man" is no better than ant-sized, if properly scaled to the "green >world". At issue in this line, then (and, in the libretto), is the vanity >of *humanist* values: "man" is no better than ant. Hence: "Learn of the >green world what can be thy place," a place that has been lost. In fact, >it seems the sole redeeming quality of "man" is "scaled invention or true >artistry" (humanist values if there ever were, of course: but wait!). In >other words, if there is any remorse that this presumably Althea-like >figure is demanding from the reader/ego scriptor (Pound)/masque-persona >(all seem probable), it is remorse as artist for over-stepping the bounds >of art's "scaled invention", for distorting the scale of the "green world" >(wherein the practice of "true artistry" lies, if one knows one's >art's "place") with hate-based 'politics', etc. It is a lesson that other >poets, reading Pound at this time, are eager to learn from as well (and >do, I think). > >I'd also like to twist this line, the canto, and the question of remorse, >towards the issue of Spain, particularly the Civil War, about which Pound >has very little to say in The Cantos - in fact, in Canto 81, he writes the >most about it, followed by Canto 105. Spain is a tactically convenient >socio-political ground (established in roughly the first half of Canto 81) >from which to then receive a visitation from the Althea-like figure in a >libretto, because the Spanish Civil War did not see any Western nations >bringing official support to the democractic uprising, so that the >concerns of the Spanish people were tragically compromised by the World >War's victors' side. In this Canto, Pound does not say what political side >he is on (concerning the Civil War, he reveals his allegiances in C105 [in >case there was any doubt!]), and this enables him to present the materials >of the canto as in support of 'the people themselves', including the >artist among them, set in their idyllic "green world," which has to be >re-found. > >Remorse is tactical, and specific to Canto 81's artistry. > >I'd need to deal with the huge word, "humanism," but I hope my drift, >well, drifts... "Green world" is pre-Renaissance, I'd say... > > >Louis Cabri > HOME: Dan Pearlman 102 Blackstone Blvd. #5 Providence, RI 02906 Tel.: 401 453-3027 email: [log in to unmask] Fax: (253) 681-8518 http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/ OFFICE Department of English University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 02881 Tel.: 401 874-4659