Periplum
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Periplum is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as being "[o]riginally and chiefly in the poetry of Ezra Pound," and as being equivalent in meaning to the English word "periplus."[1] The word is derived from the Greek περι (a prefix meaning around or about) + πλοῦς (voyage). As a noun, Pound uses "periplum" simply to refer to a voyage or journey, as in canto 74, line 3: "The great periplum brings in the stars to our shore." Here the "great periplum" refers to the daily journey made by the Sun God, Helios.[2] "Periplum" is also used in The Cantos adverbially, as seen in this example from canto 59:
Periplum, not as land looks on a map
But as sea bord seen by men sailing. (Line 82-4)
In his book ABC of Reading, Pound describes the geography of Homer's Odyssey as "correct geography; not as you would find it if you had a geography book and a map, but as it would be in 'periplum,' that is, as a coasting sailor would find it."[3] That is to say that Homer's geography is understood from the point of view of a sailor who is actually "in periplum" or in the midst of the voyage itself. In The Cantos, Pound similarly perceives space from the point of view of a poet in the midst of experience rather than from an a posteriori position.[citation needed]
Gabriel Levin: "One more night crossing, one more periplum..."[4]
Poet Denise Levertov compared Pound's use of the term to the slow panning of a movie camera or looking out a car or train window, while also noting that this would not fully give the reader a full sense of the term's literal meaning as the speed "does not allow for the kind of changes in the beholder that contribute to new perceptions."[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Liebregts, P. Th M. G. (2004). Ezra Pound and Neoplatonism. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-8386-4011-1.
- ^ Terrell, Carroll (1985). A Companion to the Cantos of Ezra Pound. U California P. pp. 362–63.
- ^ Pound, Ezra. The ABC of Reading. pp. 43–44.
- ^ Gabriel Levin, To These Dark Steps, Anvil Press, 2012, p. 69
- ^ Levertov, Denise (1992). New & Selected Essays. New Directions Publishing. pp. 104–106. ISBN 978-0-8112-1218-2.
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