J. C. Powys' Autobiography: A Reader's Companion - Site POWYS

4 Autobiography
A
“a deep and liquid rest, forgetful of all ill” (372) —
From Shelley’s “Adonais” (l.63), also quoted in
Rodmoor (456), A Glastonbury Romance (300), In
Defence of Sensuality (159), Mortal Strife (58),
Elusive America (43, 141), and Diary 1929 (117).
“A fine, clean, upstanding youth” (516) —
Perhaps a parody of A.E. Housman (“What, still
alone at twenty-two / A clean, upstanding chap
like you?”), written by Hugh Kingsmill
(1889–1949).
“a glimmering square” (369) — ”The casement
slowly grows a glimmering square” from
Tennyson’s lyric “Tears, Idle Tears” (l.14),
originally a song from The Princess (IV, l.34).
“a good man and one who did good things”
(648) — Inaccurate version of the final line of
Thomas Hardy’s The Woodlanders, spoken by
Marty (sic) South.
“a great mystery” (39) — Possibly an echo of
Ephesians 5:32.
à outrance (175) — Translated (from the French)
in the text.
“A parrot to an eagle came ...” (313) — From “The
Parrot and the Eagle” (Poems [55]).
“a savour of poisonous brass and metal sick” (470;
cf. 380) — From Keats’s Hyperion (I 189), also
quoted in After My Fashion (178) and
Psychoanalysis and Morality (15).
... a story, that is to say, the struggle of a soul ...
(46) — Jeremy Hooker (John Cowper Powys [6])
notes that this is an accurate account of
Autobiography itself.
“a stream of tendency” (295) — See “stream of
tendency.”
“A woman’s face ... treasure” (347) — From
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 20, ll.1–2, 13–14.
Abraham (469) — The Hebrew patriarch who led
his people out of Ur of the Chaldees to the “Holy
Land.” See Genesis 12.
abysm of time (291) — From Shakespeare’s The
Tempest (I ii 50), also quoted in Morwyn (200),
Suspended Judgments (56), The Complex Vision
(38), In Defence of Sensuality (22, 59), The Art of
Growing Old (109); cf. The Meaning of Culture
(29), Obstinate Cymric (162).
“accept” the cosmos (374) — One of Walt
Whitman’s basic attitudes; see Song of Myself 23
(l.7). Also alluded to in In Defence of Sensuality
(126).
Achilles (106) — The leading Greek warrior in
Homer’s Iliad, known for his speed and energy
on the battlefield. See also “Podas okus” and
“Zanthus and Balius.” So, “Achillean” (153).
“acquiring merit” (431) — A standard religious
term. Pilgrims acquire merit by going on
pilgrimages. In the East, people still acquire merit
by giving alms to priests.
Acreman House (98) — The “new” residence for
Sherborne Preparatory School in 1885, still in use,
west of the town centre.
ad infinitum and ad nauseam (443) — “Endlessly”
and “to a disgusting extent” (Latin).
Addisonian Spectators (118) — The famous
periodical, The Spectator, first appeared in 1711. It
was written primarily by Joseph Addison
(1672–1719) and Richard Steele (1672–1729) and
was most famous, perhaps, for the character of
Sir Roger de Coverley. See “Spectator” for
subsequent references.
Aegripan (261) — Presumably indicating a Bacchic
follower, the word does not occur in the standard
English or Classical dictionaries.
Aeschylus (9) — Greek tragic dramatist of the
sixth century BC, best known for his surviving
trilogy, the Oresteia.
African negroes (455) — This is an early
manifestation of JCP’s belief, prominent in Porius
and discussed in Obstinate Cymric (8–9), that the
Welsh were non-Aryan descendants of
inhabitants from Atlantis originating (like the
Druids) in North Africa.
“after the Great Companions” (542) — From
Whitman’s “Song of the Open Road” (12., l.1),
also quoted in The Pleasures of Literature (441),
where the phrase is interpreted as “the souls of
all the dead.”
Agag (401) — The King of the Amalekites spared
by Saul but slain by Samuel; see 1 Samuel 15. For
“deliberately,” see v.32, also quoted in Owen
Glendower (327).
Agape (339–40) — Christian love as discussed by
St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 (“the famous list of
attributes”). In the King James (Authorized)
Version of the Bible (“our proper old version”) it
is translated as “charity,” though later translations
tend to substitute “love.” For JCP’s further
discussions of agape, see The Pleasures of
Literature (216, 219, 232–3), Dostoievsky (156–8),
and Letters to Miller (39–40).
Agawamuk (135) — A river close to JCP’s home,
Phudd Bottom, in Hillsdale, New York State.
“age cannot wither him nor custom stale”
(261) — Adapted from Shakespeare’s Antony and
Cleopatra (II ii 241), also quoted in the 1955
introduction to A Glastonbury Romance. Cf.
Wood and Stone (21).
aged relative (18, 42) — JCP’s paternal
grandmother, Amelia (Emily) Powys (1830–1902).
The phrase is apparently used to avoid revealing
her as a woman, following the original principle