Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,3/6/2020,SPi
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OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,3/6/2020,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,3/6/2020,SPi
The Etymological Poetry
of W. H. Auden,
J. H. Prynne, and Paul
Muldoon
MIA GAUDERN
1
OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,3/6/2020,SPi
3
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Preface
‘Who knew forensic derives from forum?’ asks Muldoon in a recent poem,
providing an answer to one riddle and in the process obliquely presenting us
withanother:whatexactlyisitthatweknow,nowthattheetymologicalconnec-
tionbetween‘forensic’and‘forum’hasbeenrevealed?Ithasbeensuggestedthat
all poetic language is a kind of etymologising, since it invites us to interpret
physical similarities between words as meaningful. Jakobson called this ‘poetic
etymology’,ametaphorthatbearscomparisonwithEmerson’swell-knownaph-
orismthat‘languageisfossilpoetry’.Thisbookseekstounderstandwhathappens
when these two concepts are broughttogether, in what isdefined asthe ‘etymo-
logicalpoetry’ofW.H.Auden,J.H.Prynne,andPaulMuldoon.
Etymological poetry is alive to the past lives of its words, and it probes the
possible significance of them both explicitly and implicitly. This is rarely an
uncontentious method; however resonant the result may be, critics warn that it
shows the poet’s natural interest in language degenerating into an unhealthy
obsession with the dictionary. Between Muldoon’s provocative bravura,
Prynne’s famed impenetrability, and Auden’s ‘lexical exercises’, etymological
concerns contribute an element of linguistic pedantry to a poetry that is already
‘difficult’.Itisunavoidablypedantic, inthepost-Saussureanera,toentertainthe
idea that a word’s history might have any relevance to its current use. This is
wheretheforensicandtheforumintersect—touseaspatialmetaphorforwhatis
an extremely complex temporal relationship—as the reader is required to judge
whatroleetymologyhastoplay,ifany,inpoeticlanguage.
Bychallengingnotionsofpoetryasetymologicalandetymologyaspoetic,this
poetry worries at the interface between writing and reading. Whether teasingly
revealed by a poem or subtly concealed within it, a fascination with what words
used to mean is always a matter of reader participation, first in decoding the
relationshipbetweenetymonandreflex,andtheninjudgingtherelevanceofsuch
anenterprise.Etymologicalpoetryelicitstheclosestofclosereadings,andassuch
encourages us to reflect not only on its own pedantry, obscurity, and virtuosity,
butalsoonhowthesequalitiesfunctionincriticism.
As well as presenting a new way of reading three very different late modern
poet-critics, this book addresses an understudied aspect of the relationship
between poetry and criticism. Its findings are situated in the context of literary
debatesaboutdifficultyanddiction,andinlargerculturalconversationsaboutthe
workingsoflanguageasahistoricalevent.
OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,3/6/2020,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,3/6/2020,SPi
Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to thank my DPhil supervisor, Matthew Reynolds, for his
preciseandpatientcommentariesonmywork.Iamalsogratefultomyteachers,
whohelpedmedeveloptheideasthatbecamethisbook,andconvincedmethey
wereworthpursuing:MarkWormald,JackieTasioulas,andJohnKerrigan.
Iamespecially thankful forthefinancialassistance Ireceived fromPembroke
College, Cambridge, during my BA and MPhil, and from Brasenose College,
Oxford,andtheArtsandHumanitiesResearchCouncilduringmyDPhil.
Anumberofpeoplehavegivenmeinvaluableadviceinthepreparationofthe
thesis and subsequently the manuscript: my DPhil examiners Peter McDonald
and Angela Leighton, Charlotte Brewer, Deborah Hayden, Mairead McKendry,
PiersPennington,EllieCollinsatOUP,andtwoanonymousreviewers.
Thankyoutomyfriendsforprovidingunfailingsupportandplentyof(mostly
musical)distractionsfromwork.Finally,tomylovelyfamily,Mum,Dad,AJ,and
Posy,andmyhusbandNick—Icouldneverhavedonethiswithoutyou.
Creditlines:
Thefollowingtextsarereproducedbykindpermissionofthecopyrightholders:
Excerpts from poems in W. H. Auden, Another Time; Collected Shorter Poems,
1927–1957; and Collected Poems. Copyright © 1940; 1966; 1976, 1991 by
W.H. Auden,renewed. Reprinted bypermission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.Excerpts
frompoemsinJ.H.Prynne,SubSongs;KazooDreamboats:Or,onWhatThereIs;
andPoems,3rdedn.Copyright©2010,2011,2015byJ.H.Prynne.Reprintedby
permissionofJ.H.Prynne.ExcerptsfrompoemsinPaulMuldoon,MoySandand
Gravel; Horse Latitudes; Poems, 1968–1998; and One Thousand Things Worth
Knowing: Poems. Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2015, 2015 by Paul Muldoon.
Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
ExcerptsfrompoemsinPaulMuldoon,ThePrinceoftheQuotidian.Copyright©
1994byPaulMuldoon.ReprintedbypermissionofGalleryPress.Excerptsfrom
poems and translations in Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, The Fifty Minute Mermaid,
trans. by Paul Muldoon. Copyright © 2007 by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Paul
Muldoon. Reprinted by permission of Gallery Press. Excerpts from poems in
CiaranCarson,CollectedPoems.Copyright ©2009byCiaranCarson.Reprinted
bypermissionofGalleryPressandWakeForestUniversityPress.Excerptsfrom
poemsandtranslationsinNualaNíDhomhnaill,TheAstrakhanCloak,trans.by
Paul Muldoon. Copyright © 1992 by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Paul Muldoon.
Reprinted by permission of Gallery Press and Wake Forest University Press.
Excerpts from poems in Seamus Heaney, Opened Ground: Selected Poems
OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,3/6/2020,SPi
viii
1966–1996. Copyright © 1998 by Seamus Heaney. Reprinted by permission of
Faber and Faber Ltd and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Excerpts from poems in
T. S. Eliot, Selected Poems. Copyright © 1922 by T. S. Eliot. Reprinted by
permission of Faber and Faber Ltd. Reprinted by Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
Excerpts from ‘Ananhorish’ and ‘Bone Dreams’ from Opened Ground: Selected
Poems 1966–1996 by Seamus Heaney. Copyright © 1998 by Seamus Heaney.
Excerpts from Horse Latitudes by Paul Muldoon. Copyright © 2006 by Paul
Muldoon. Excerpts from Moy Sand and Gravel by Paul Muldoon. Copyright ©
2002byPaulMuldoon.Excerptsfrom‘TheHumorsHakone’fromOneThousand
Things Worth Knowing: Poems by Paul Muldoon. Excerpts from Poems:
1968–1998 by Paul Muldoon. Copyright © 2015 by Paul Muldoon. Excerpts by
W.H.AudenreprintedbypermissionofCurtisBrown,Ltd.
OUPCORRECTEDAUTOPAGEPROOFS–FINAL,3/6/2020,SPi
Table of Contents
ListofAbbreviations xi
Introduction 1
LiteraryCriticismandtheEtymologicalArgument 9
TheEtymologicalPoetryofAuden,Prynne,andMuldoon 19
1. PaulMuldoonthe‘EtymologicalJunkie’ 22
SpeculationandEtymologyinMuldoon’sCriticism 23
EtymologicalDigressionandElegy 31
InterpretingCryptocurrentsinMaggot(2010) 42
PassingJudgmentonMuldoon’sBravura 46
2. ReadingJ.H.Prynnewith‘MentalEars’ 48
Etymological‘Logic’ 49
HearingTheWhiteStones(1969)with‘MentalEars’ 53
MorphologicalResonance 61
HearingPrynne’sEtymologicalPoetic 71
3. TheLexicalExercisesofW.H.Auden 75
LosingFaithinLanguage 78
ComingtoTermswithEtymologyin‘ThanksgivingforaHabitat’ 83
ExercisesinEtymologicalTranslation 90
TheNecessityofEtymologicalReading 95
4. W.H.Auden’sPaysagesEtymologisés 100
TheOriginsofLanguage 105
LinguisticTemptations 112
‘ExercisesinViewingLandscapes’ 116
ThePoetryofNaming 123
5. LyricDictioninJ.H.Prynne 126
NamingStars 130
TheLyricMoment 137
PearlsThatWere(1999) 144
ALanguageRichandStrange 150
