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

50 Autobiography
Redcliff (273), Redcliff Bay (15, 139) — There is a
Redcliff Point on the coast to the northeast of
Weymouth.
redeemed ... sorrows (130) — Adapted from
Shakespeare’s King Lear (V iii 266), also quoted in
After My Fashion (272), Weymouth Sands (321),
The Complex Vision (95), In Defence of Sensuality
(123), and The Pleasures of Literature (163).
Regan and Goneril ... that look (218) — Regan
and Goneril are the two disloyal daughters in
Shakespeare’s King Lear, both in love with
Edmund. The reference here is to IV v 25–6.
Regent (254) — The future King George IV, King
of England from 1820 to 1830, who served as
regent, 1811–1820, during the mental instability of
his father, who reigned from 1760 until 1820. He is
now best known for his association, as here, with
Brighton Pavilion.
Reigate (342) — A town south of London, in
Surrey.
Rembrandt (301; cf. 302) — Rembrandt von Rijn
(1606–1669), Dutch painter well known for his
portraits and his use of shadow.
“reservoirs of magnetism” (525) — Not identified.
“Resolve to live ... in the Beautiful” (501) — From
Goethe, also quoted in The Meaning of Culture
(251), The Pleasures of Literature (263), Mortal
Strife (167), and Letters to Ichiro Hara (139).
Return of the Native, The (64, 99, 309) — A novel
by Hardy (1878).
Reynolds, Sir Joshua (251) — British portrait
painter (1723–1792), first President of the Royal
Academy. The reference is perhaps to the figure
of Joseph in Reynolds’s painting The Holy Family
(1789) in the Tate Gallery collection. NB:
“Reynold’s” is, of course, an error.
Rhoades, James (131) — Latin teacher and poet
(1841–1923). His translations of Vergil were
eventually published in the “World’s Classics”
series. Littleton (70) writes more positively of him
than JCP, ending with the statement: “I was
grateful to him.”
Rhodes (301) — Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902), British
businessman and administrator who expanded
British power in Africa. Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) was named after him.
Rhys, Sir John (284) — Welsh scholar (1840–1915),
whose Studies in the Arthurian Legend (1891) was
much used by JCP when writing A Glastonbury
Romance, Maiden Castle, and Porius. See also
under “bundling.”
“rich and strange” (306; cf. 67) — From
Shakespeare’s The Tempest (I ii 401), also quoted
in Visions and Revisions (xxi), In Defence of
Sensuality (17, 165), Elusive America (45), and cf.
Rabelais (15).
Richardson, Dorothy (524) — English novelist
(1873–1957), known for her Pilgrimage cycle. JCP
admired her work, and published a pamphlet
about her, Dorothy M. Richardson (1931).
Richmond Villa (133, 393) — Llewelyn’s residence
while teaching at Sherborne Preparatory School.
Rider and Company (181) — William Rider & Son,
the London publishing company in which Ralph
Shirley (q.v.) had a controlling interest and which
brought out JCP’s early poetry. Noted for its
occult list.
“rigged in the eclipse and built with curses dark”
(474) — From Milton’s “Lycidas” (l.101). JCP
reverses the words “rigged” and “built.”
Riley, [J.] Whitcomb (605) — American poet (1849-
1916), author of “Little Orphan Annie,” best
known for The Old Swimmin’ Hole and ‘Leven
More Poems (1883).
“rise again” (401) — Alluding to a passage from
the Nicene Creed in the Anglican Communion
service.
“rising of the gorge” (11) — A traditional phrase,
but perhaps echoing “my gorge rises at it” in
Shakespeare’s Hamlet (V i 207).
“rising to immortality and intense happiness”
(642, 643, 649) — Not identified; perhaps a JCP
invention, but cf. Letters to Ross (38–9).
Robertson’s History of the Church (283; cf.
152) — The History of the Christian Church by
James Craigie Robertson, published between
1854 and 1873. Littleton records JCP’s borrowing
these volumes from the Sherborne School Library
in 1890–1891 (The Joy of It [67–8]). NB:
“Robinson’s” (152) is an error.
Robinson, Edwin Arlington (451, 471) — American
poet (1869–1935), best known for his somewhat
lugubrious poems about New England people. He
also wrote long poems on Arthurian themes.
Ronald Mathias (81) believes that JCP only met
Robinson once, on the occasion described here.
rocks and stones and trees (26, 633) — The order
suggests a likely echo of Wordsworth’s “A
Slumber Did My Spirit Seal” (l.8), also alluded to
in The Inmates (214), Porius (278), In Defence of
Sensuality (7, 221–2, 282), and Letters to Ichiro
Hara (138).
“rod and staff” (204) — Psalm 23:4.
Roderic Mawr (141) — Roderick (sic) or Rhodri
Mawr, King of Gwynedd and Powys from whom
Owen Glendower claimed descent. JCP also
wrote of his father’s pride in this ancestor in The
Dorset Year (262) and Letters to Glynn Hughes
(59). JCP’s first privately published story, “The
Hamadryad and the Demon,” reprinted in Powys
Newsletter 2 (Colgate University), 1971, was
signed “Roderick Mawr.”
Roderigo (91) — A gullible and foolish character
in Shakespeare’s Othello.