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: : Dear Rob: : : You wrote (in part): : : : My remaining difficulty is that in both your readings, "the sacred hilltops : : : whitening in heaven" is part of the compound subject for "move." That seems : : : odd. Certainly the "light" and the "waters nightlong wakeful" work that way; : : : but it's not clear to me in what sense the hilltops move. Maybe (appear to) : : : move because of the light stealing over them. . . . : : : : Your speculation makes sense to me--it's what : : I had in mind, as it's the most straightforward : : meaning that the syntax suggests. As for the : : poem's success--that's another issue. I like the : : poem a great deal, but it I think Tim is right : : that Jeffers isn't yet fully mature here, is still : : groping around a bit. At any rate, I read : : the passage as an ecstatic outpouring, which : : justifies its syntactical murk by its feeling-- : : among other things, it shows a clear debt to the Romantics. : : The only place I'd disagree with Tim is on the : : source of that syntactical torture, which seems : : less like typical contemporary poetic language, : : and more like an imitation of Latin to me (although : : there's no reason both couldn't be involved). : : Best, : : David J. Rothman : I am just catching on. Have patience with me. I agreed with your readings of Mal Paso. : But it brought a flood of questions I have : suppressed over other poems. E.g. How do you read : Jeffers's Invocation to Tamar, section V: : specifically "Cliffs of Peninsular granite : engirdle" Bob Brophy

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