Rhythm <strong>of</strong> Memory 12encounters and is modified by another; so that the text exists <strong>in</strong> the <strong>rhythm</strong> <strong>of</strong> these encounters,not <strong>in</strong> any abstract perception <strong>of</strong> the magnitude <strong>of</strong> the event, nor <strong>in</strong> an emotional reaction to it.<strong>The</strong> shell-burst ends <strong>in</strong> anti-climax; all it mangles is mangolds. But though anti-climax completesby a fall the trajectory <strong>of</strong> the shell, it is not an isolated shape <strong>in</strong> the trajectory <strong>of</strong> the text. <strong>The</strong>arrival <strong>of</strong> the shell is preceded by a scene <strong>in</strong> which Lieutenant Jenk<strong>in</strong>s asks Ball for a match.Search<strong>in</strong>g clumsily through his pockets, Ball scatters their contents on the ground. This gives riseto the first enumeration <strong>of</strong> the sequence, more a lost-property list than an (epic) catalogue. Thisexposure or “revelation” <strong>of</strong> the contents <strong>of</strong> Ball’s pockets constitutes a proto anti-climax, and thefeeble match flare that follows, as Jenk<strong>in</strong>s hunches his shoulders to nurture the flame, can be readas a parodic equivalent /anticipation <strong>of</strong> the shell-burst. Thus the two parts <strong>of</strong> the scene cohere <strong>in</strong>a mirror relationship, based on disproportion.Among the objects Ball drops is a “latch-key” to “Stondon Park”, his home <strong>in</strong> London. Ly<strong>in</strong>gthere <strong>in</strong>congruously <strong>in</strong> a French farmyard., it becomes,. as <strong>in</strong> the clos<strong>in</strong>g sequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>The</strong> WasteLand, the key <strong>of</strong> <strong>memory</strong>, it lets <strong>memory</strong> <strong>in</strong>to the “remembered” scene and layers it with thetopoi <strong>of</strong> the lost enclosure (Stondon Park) and the mythic, perhaps illusory, promise (or threat)<strong>of</strong> a door to be opened.It is characteristic <strong>of</strong> Jones’s deployment <strong>of</strong> <strong>rhythm</strong> that the l<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g element between the twoparts <strong>of</strong> the scene should be language. Because he forgets to say “sir” to Lieutenant Jenk<strong>in</strong>s, Ballis subjected to Sergeant Snell’s “favourite theme” on how to address commissioned <strong>of</strong>ficers. Ballwaits patiently for Snell’s “eloquence” to “spend itself”, which makes its “flow” strictlysimultaneous with the shell’s arrival, so that the two trajectories (like the two words Snell / shell)<strong>in</strong>tersect. This <strong>of</strong> course turns the shell-burst <strong>in</strong>to another k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>congruous climax, set <strong>of</strong>f bythe unstated yet evident irony whereby Snell, for all his admonish<strong>in</strong>g eloquence, fails to warn Ball<strong>of</strong> the danger, and plunges for safety, leav<strong>in</strong>g him exposed to it alone. And this solitar<strong>in</strong>ess, is <strong>of</strong>course, how Ball’s trajectory <strong>in</strong> the wood ends and how the text itself beg<strong>in</strong>s to <strong>in</strong>scribe its<strong>rhythm</strong>.Michael HINCHLIFFE, Université de Provence.Works citedDILWORTH, Thomas. <strong>The</strong> Shape <strong>of</strong> Mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Poetry <strong>of</strong> <strong>David</strong> Jones. Toronto and London:University <strong>of</strong> Toronto Press, 1988.FUSSELL, Paul. <strong>The</strong> Great War and Modern Memory. New York and London: Oxford UP, 1975.JONES, <strong>David</strong>. In Parenthesis. London: Faber, 1937. (Abbr. IP)
Rhythm <strong>of</strong> Memory 13—. <strong>The</strong> Anathémata. London: Faber, 1952. (Abbr. Ana)MESCHONNIC, Henri. Critique du rythme. Anthropolgie historique du langage. Lagrasse: Verdier,1982.—. Poétique du traduire. Lagrasse: Verdier, 1999.1“Traduire n’est pas traduire si on ne rend pas le rythme qu’on a reçu”2“Mais alors que chacun n’a que son passé, le poème passe de je en je. Il est ce discours qui peut reconnaître le passédes autres. Il n’arrache pas seulement un peu de vivre à l’oubli. S’il est autre que du souvenir, c’est que le rythme estune actualisation du sujet, de sa temporalité” (87)3<strong>The</strong> text <strong>of</strong> In Parenthesis is preceded by a dedication, <strong>in</strong> the form <strong>of</strong> an <strong>in</strong>scription, to “the <strong>memory</strong> <strong>of</strong> those withme <strong>in</strong> the covert and <strong>in</strong> the open…etc.”..4Cf. the poet Thomas Wyatt (1503?-42) who wrote : “<strong>The</strong>y flee from me that sometime did me seek/ With nakedfeet stalk<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> my chamber:”