"'Jug jug' to dirty ears"
The original text reads,
Jug Jug, into the dirty ear of death; lust;
And other tales, from the old stumps and bloody ends of time
Were told upon the walls; where staring forms
Leaned out, and hushed the room and closed it in" (V. Eliot 11).
Ezra Pound crossed out a good deal of this, making the text read as follows:
“Jug Jug” into dirty ear
old stumps and bloody ends of time
Were told upon the walls; staring forms
Leaned out, hushed the room, closed it" (V. Eliot 11).
He also has a note that says, "too penty" (V. Eliot 11), meaning "too much of iambic pentameter," and indeed, this version flows much better than does the first version. Instead of Philomel's song sounding like "Jug jug" to death and lust, it sounds like "Jug jug" to all with dirty ears. Eliot kept this change, for by saying that "old stumps and bloody ends of time/ Were told upon the walls," the room is given a morbid, macabre bent.
Jug Jug, into the dirty ear of death; lust;
And other tales, from the old stumps and bloody ends of time
Were told upon the walls; where staring forms
Leaned out, and hushed the room and closed it in" (V. Eliot 11).
Ezra Pound crossed out a good deal of this, making the text read as follows:
“Jug Jug” into dirty ear
old stumps and bloody ends of time
Were told upon the walls; staring forms
Leaned out, hushed the room, closed it" (V. Eliot 11).
He also has a note that says, "too penty" (V. Eliot 11), meaning "too much of iambic pentameter," and indeed, this version flows much better than does the first version. Instead of Philomel's song sounding like "Jug jug" to death and lust, it sounds like "Jug jug" to all with dirty ears. Eliot kept this change, for by saying that "old stumps and bloody ends of time/ Were told upon the walls," the room is given a morbid, macabre bent.