[Ttha-potm] Joys of Memory - Correction

[segrmusic]

Briefly, no.
Speak the two lines in two phrases with a pause ("caesura")
between at the comma.

  -----Original Message-----
  From: carolyn mcgrath [mailto:carolynmcgrathuk at yahoo.co.uk]
  Sent: 03 April 2009 10:32
  To: ttha-potm at coyote.csusm.edu
  Subject: [Ttha-potm] Joys of Memory - Correction


        Just a small, but significant, correction: there is no comma on the
penultimate line of the second stanza

        "And in the numbness my heartsome zest
        For things that were, be past repeating
        When spring comes round."

        I think the 'be' of 'be past repeating' is the use of the
subjunctive again (it has caught me out before but I think I have spotted it
this time). Interpreting it fully is somewhat trickier for me. Is it used
here to indicate that at some unknown time in the future when I am dead (or
'house with dust' as it is euphemistically put), then, and for all unknown
time forward, my 'heartsome zest' for all things past will itself be past,
even though spring itself will retain its ability to return/repeat?

        I must admit, the comma following 'were' seems confusing to me.
However, it does ensure that a caesura occurs at that point rather than at
the end of the line. The run-on line needs to be understood (once Betty's
erroneous comma is removed) as it alters the sense conveyed. It shows great
sensitivity of Hardy to language (or to his readers) to put that comma there
as I think the reader would put, as Betty does, a break at the end of that
line which alters the sense that this particular punctuation demands.

        Did others find these lines tricky?

        best wishes

        Carolyn McGrath


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