by T. S. Eliot
I 24–25] not msI
I 25 ^ 26] line space 4to proofs ‖ new page so line spacing indeterminate 1936, 1963, US 1963 ‖ no line space Sesame (to avoid isolated line at head of page). TSE endorsed the space in response to a proof query about Later Poems (Faber archive, RdlM 80)
I 26 And] I msI mercy] some mercy msI
I 27] And to forget msI
I 28 matters that with myself I] difficulties we msI
I 29] Explain, msI
I 31 answer] answer: msI
I 32 For] From msI not to] will not msI
I 33 May] Let msI 1st reading judgement] judgment msI, tsIa, Commerce, tsAW
I 33 ^ 34] new leaf, then And may the opinion of the world refrain then line space msI
I 34 these] the msI, tsIa no] now no msI
I 35] not msI
I 36] So that the world is now small msI 1st reading ‖ And the air now small dry; msI 2nd reading
I 37 will] will. msI ‖ will: tsIa
I 38] not msI
I 40–41] not msI
I 39 ^ 40] new page so line spacing indeterminate tsIa
I 40 death] death. tsIa
I 40 ^ 41] Holy Mary Mother of God tsIa
I 41 now] sinners now tsIa, Commerce (in a copy inscribed to Jeanie McPherrin, 2 May 1935, sinners is circled in pencil, possibly in TSE’s hand; a pencilled sum of his appears on the title page) death.] death …. T. S. ELIOT. Desert Islands
II
Part title II] 1930+ ‖ not tsII ‖ SALUTATION Sat Rev, Criterion ‖ II. JAUSEN LO JORN. tsAW ‖ TAN M’ABELIS added by Vivien Eliot, who has deleted the printed title, byline and epigraph, Scripps
Epigraph] not 1930+ ‖ The hand of the LORD was upon me, | e vo significando. tsII ‖ The Hand of the Lord Was Upon Me:—e vo significando. Sat Rev ‖ e vo significando Criterion, Twentieth Cent Poetry (with a stop)
II 1 Lady] LADY Criterion, Library of Congress recording text 1949 (following US 1936, which capitalises the opening of many poems and of each part of The Waste Land and Ash-Wednesday)
II 1 as also 48 juniper-tree] 1930+ ‖ juniper tree tsII, Sat Rev, Criterion, tsAW
[Poem I 87–89 · Commentary I 737–42]
II 3 my legs my heart my liver] my legs, my heart, my liver Sat Rev ‖ my legs, my heart my liver, 4to 1st proof with commas del by TSE
II 5 Shall] Can Criterion shall] 1930+ ‖ Shall tsII, Sat Rev, 4to 1st proof 1st reading ‖ Can Criterion
II 10 honours] honors Sat Rev meditation,] meditation tsAW
II 11 brightness. And] brightness, and tsII
II 14 ^ 15] two-line space at foot of page Later Poems
II 15 guts] guts, Sat Rev eyes] eyes, Sat Rev indigestible] indigestable Criterion (corrected Twentieth Cent Poetry)
II 19 life] breath tsII
II 21 And] —And tsII, tsAW ‖ ———And Criterion
II 24 ^ 25] two-line space tsII ‖ single line space Criterion, 4to 2nd proof, 1930, 1936+ ‖ no line space 4to 1st proof with chevron and “double space” by TSE, 1936 proof 1st reading, Library of Congress recording text ‖ new page so line spacing indeterminate 1933. The page depth of both Criterion and 1930 made impracticable the two-line space that TSE intended.
II 25–47] inset Sat Rev, Twentieth Cent Poetry, Library of Congress recording text
II 28–29] braced by Vivien Eliot in Scripps
II 29 ^ 30] Spattered and worshipped tsII, Sat Rev, Criterion, tsAW. This line and the next braced by Vivien Eliot in Scripps
II 30 life-giving] life giving tsII
II 32 ^ 33] With worm-eaten petals tsAW ‖ With worm eaten petals tsII, Sat Rev, Criterion
II 45 ^ 46] tsII, Sat Rev, Criterion, tsAW:
For the end of remembering
End of forgetting
braced by Vivien Eliot in Scripps
II 47 ends.] ends tsII, tsAW, Twentieth Cent Poetry
II 47 ^ 48] two-line space tsII, 1963 ‖ new page so line spacing indeterminate 1930, US 1936, Later Poems ‖ no line space Library of Congress recording text
II 48 shining] shining. tsII, Sat Rev, Criterion
II 49 other,] 1930+ ‖ other. tsII, Sat Rev, Criterion, tsAW
II 50 sand,] 1930+ ‖ sand. tsII, Sat Rev, Criterion, tsAW
II 50 ^ 51] line space Sat Rev
II 54 Matters] 1930+ ‖ Matter tsII, Sat Rev, Criterion, tsAW, 4to 1st proof 1st reading with printer’s query “s” endorsed by TSE
III
Part title III] 1930+ ‖ SOM DE L’ESCALINA. tsAW, tsIIIa, tsIIIb, Commerce
III 3, 4] transposed tsAW, tsIIIa, tsIIIb, Commerce
[Poem I 89–91 · Commentary I 742–47]
III 3 The same] My own tsAW, tsIIIa 1st reading
III 4 Under] Beneath tsAW, tsIIIa in] of tsAW, tsIIIa
III 6 and of] and tsBBC 1st reading. The missing “of” was inserted after the initial recording (in the hand noting the duration of each part as delivered). Beneath the caret mark is repeated underlining with “NOT on recording!!” III 1–6 (where the leaf ends) with “Do again”.
III 6 ^ 7 as also 11 ^ 12] two-line space 1933 (to avoid widow)
III 9 dark,] dark tsAW, ts Curtis, tsIIIb, Commerce
III 10 Damp] Harsh tsAW, tsIIIa 1st reading jaggèd,] 1930+ ‖ jagged, tsAW, tsIIIa ‖ jaggéd, Commerce ‖ jaggèd US 1930. (Over the “e” in tsIIIb is superimposed an apostrophe.)
III 11 agèd] 1930+ ‖ giant tsAW, tsIIIa, tsIIIb, Commerce
III 13 fig’s] figs’s 1974
III 19 stair,] stair. Guild
III 21 ^ 22] no line space 4to 1st proof but with chevron and “double space” by TSE ‖ single line space 4to 2nd proof, 1930, 1936+ ‖ no line space 1936 proof 1st reading ‖ new page so line spacing indeterminate 1933
III 22 as also 23 Lord,] Lord tsAW, tsIIIa, Commerce
III 23 worthy] worthy. tsIIIa 1st reading ‖ worthy, 4to 1st proof, 4to 2nd proof
III 23 ^ 24] line space 1930, 1936, US 1963 ‖ no line space tsIIIa (where 24 is a ms addition), tsIIIb, Commerce, 1963+ ‖ no line space 4to 1st proof but with chevron and “another space” by TSE. The line space in 1936 was made possible on a tight page by reducing the depth of the three previous line spaces in III. This was not done in 1963, leaving no room for a line space here, but the line space was retained on the deeper page of US 1963.
III 24] not tsAW, tsIIIa 1st reading only.] only tsIIIb, Commerce (although facing translation has stop)
IV
Part title IV] 1930+ ‖ VESTITA DI COLOR DI FIAMMA tsAW
IV 4 Going] Who walked tsAW colour,] colour tsAW
IV 5 Talking] And talked tsAW
IV 6 eternal] perpetual tsAW
IV 7 moved] mover (mistyping) tsAW others] othr tsAW 1st reading ‖ others, 2nd reading as they walked,] those who walked tsAW
IV 8 Who then made strong] She who made new tsAW
IV 9 cool] fresh tsAW made firm the] the barren tsAW
IV 10 colour,] colour tsAW
IV 11 Sovegna] Soe tsAW 1st reading ‖ Sovvegna 4to 2nd proof (following a printer’s suggestion on 4to 1st proof which TSE did not delete) vos] vos al pasada folor tsAW
[Poem I 91–92 · Commentary I 747–49]
IV 14 moves in the time between sleep and waking] walks between season and season tsAW
IV 15 folded.] folding the flame and green tsAW ‖ folded; 4to 2nd proof
IV 15 ^ 16] new page so line spacing indeterminate 1930 ltd ed., 1930 US
IV 16–29] tsAW:
Clothes that now clothe her, while the flowers rejoice
In the blessed face
And the blessed voice
Of one who has heard the unheard, seen the unseen.
[5]
Desire chills, and the hidden thoughts outrace
The way of penance to the means of grace.
Poi s’ascose nel foco and
After this our exile
Poi s’ascose nel foco and
After this our exile
with After in the last line typed ov
er And
IV 21 ^ 22] line space 1930 ltd ed., 1936+ ‖ new page so line spacing indeterminate 1930, 1933, US 1936
IV 23 ^ 24] end of page 1936, 1963, Sel Poems repr. 1954 (causing erroneous line space in some later printings)
IV 24] publisher’s memo to printer, 12 Feb 1948, revoking an instruction to emend: “We have now discovered that the correct version is as it is now printed, i.e. ‘signed’ and not ‘sighed’” (Faber archive). “Secretary to Mr. T. S. Eliot” to J. Posener, 9 Apr 1948: “In your previous letter I believe you suggested that in Section IV of Ash Wednesday, line 24 signed should read sighed. I referred the matter to Mr. Eliot and he agreed. The other day Mr. Eliot was sending a copy of his Poems to a friend and asked me where this misprint occurred so that I could correct it. I told him and he then said that the original signed was correct! Evidently he wasn’t thinking when I queried him the first time about it!”
V
Part title V] LA SUA VOLUNTADE tsAW (see note to A Cooking Egg 24).
V 1–2] tsAW:
If the lost word is lost, if
The spent word is spent, if the unheard, unspoken
V 5–6] The Word within the world, and for the world, tsAW
[Poem I 92–94 · Commentary I 749–51]
V 8 Word] all texts prior to 1936, US 1936, 1936 18th imp. (1961), 1963+ ‖ World 1936 (see Commentary). Corrected three times by TSE: in Curtis’s 1936, TSE’s 1949 and Washington copy 1954. TSE confirmed on 22 May 1936, to the American publisher of 1936, Donald Brace, that Brace had “found one glaring error in our edition. The text of Ash-Wednesday that you have is certainly correct. The line should read: ‘Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled’. I shall be glad at least to have this correct in the American if not in the London edition.” Brace, 4 June: “I am relieved to hear that that line in Ash-Wednesday is correct as we have printed it. I couldn’t believe that it could be correct as printed in your edition, so I took the liberty, not without a good deal of hesitation, of adopting the reading which happily turns out to be the correct one.” The error persisted in British editions, including Sesame, Penguin and Sel Poems (1954). David Bland of Faber to the Pitman Press, concerning a reprint of Sesame, 13 Apr 1962: “We have the following correction which is probably not included in those recently sent to you. This correction should appear in Ash-Wednesday: The sentence reading ‘Against the World the unstilled world still whirled’ should be read as ‘Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled’” (Faber archive). Beare 35 notes the persistence of this error, its appearance in an American paperback edition, and even its translation into other languages.
V 9 of] oft Guild
V 9 ^ 10] no line space tsAW ‖ two-line space (to avoid widow at the head of following page) 1933
V 10 people,] people tsAW thee.] thee! 4to 1st proof with exclamation mark changed to stop by TSE ‖ thee 4to 2nd proof (misreading TSE’s instruction)
V 11–37] not tsAW
V 11 will the word] will the Sesame 1954 imp. (later corrected)
V 24 darkness?] darkness 4to 1st proof 2nd reading (after question mark del by TSE), 4to 2nd proof
V 27 oppose] oppose? 4to 1st proof with question mark del TSE
V 28 thee.] thee! 4to 1st proof with exclamation mark changed to stop by TSE ‖ thee 4to 2nd proof (despite instruction)
V 30 Yew trees] Yew-trees 4to 1st proof with hyphen del TSE, 1930 ltd ed., US 1930. At VI 23, “the yew-tree” has a hyphen which TSE did not delete in 4to 1st proof. Rather than a distinction between singular and plural forms, the inconsistent hyphenation in the published poems may be due to his sensitivity to rhythmic differences: “birch-trees”, Mr. Apollinax 3; “mango-tree”, The Hippopotamus 14; “pine trees”, The Waste Land [V] 356; “yew trees”, Animula 36; “juniper-tree” Ash-Wednesday, II 1, 48; “palmtrees” but “bamboo tree”, Sweeney Agonistes: Fragment of an Agon 24, 42; “palmtree”, Coriolan I. Triumphal March 33; “apple-tree”, Landscapes I. New Hampshire 12; “fir trees” but “yew-tree”, The Dry Salvages I 26, V 49; “yew-tree” and “apple-tree”, Little Gidding V 19, 35.
V 35 apple-seed.] apple- | seed? 4to 1st proof 1st reading (broken at line-end) with question mark changed to full stop by TSE ‖ apple- | seed 4to 2nd proof (despite instruction)
V 35 ^ 36] no line space 4to proofs (there being no room on the page below)
V 36] very deep indent 4to proofs, 1930 ltd. ed., US 1930 people.] people! 4to 1st proof with exclamation mark changed to full stop by TSE ‖ people 4to 2nd proof (despite instruction)
[Poem I 95 · Commentary I 751–52]
VI
Part title. VI] not tsAW, which runs directly from V 10 to VI 11 without break or line space between V and VI.
VI 6 dreamcrossed] dream-crossed 4to 1st proof 1st reading
VI 7 me father)] me, Father), 4to 1st proof 1st reading
VI 11 And] If tsAW
VI 12 lilac] lilies tsAW 1st reading ‖ lilacs tsAW 2nd reading
VI 12 ^ 13] indented O my people what have I done unto thee. tsAW
VI 13] If the lost spirits quicken and rebel tsAW
VI 14 bent golden-rod and the] lost roses, sweet peas, tsAW smell] smell, tsAW
VI 15 Quickens] If the lost ear quickens tsAW
VI 16 whirling] lost sea tsAW
VI 17 And the blind] If the lost eye tsAW
VI 18 The empty forms] The quickening form tsAW
VI 19–35] tsAW:
O my people what have I done unto thee
In this pool all the waves are silent
In this pool all the seas are still
All the waves die against this island
[5]
Our life is in the world’s decease
Our peace
In his will.
Suffer me not to be separated
O my people
VI 19 ^ 20] new page so line spacing indeterminate 4to 1st proof, 4to 2nd proof, but line space confirmed by TSE in a memo about Later Poems (Faber archive RdlM 80)
VI 22 ^ 23] no line space 4to 1st proof but with chevron and “Double space” by TSE ‖ single line space 4to 2nd proof ‖ no line space 1930 ltd ed., 1930 (to avoid isolated line at head of page), US 1930, 1936+ (in TSE’s 1949, TSE added a marginal chevron to indicate space; see also next note) ‖ new page so line spacing indeterminate 1933
VI 24 ^ 25] line space 1930, US 1936, Later Poems ‖ new page so line spacing indeterminate 1936, 1963 ‖ no line space Sesame, Penguin, 1969, various later printings. A proof-reader’s query about Later Poems asked whether the spaces VI 19 ^ 20 and 24 ^ 25 were correct. TSE responded “Yes” (Faber archive).
VI 29 rocks,] rocks: 4to 1st proof with colon del by TSE ‖ rocks 4to 2nd proof
VI 34 ^ 35] single line space 1930+ ‖ single line space 4to 1st proof but with chevron and “more space” by TSE ‖ two-line space 4to 2nd proof
VI 35 my] me 1936 proof, corrected TSE
[Poem I 96–97 · Commentary I 753–56]
Ariel Poems
Editions collated for the series: Ariel (the original pamphlets), 1936, Penguin, Sel Poems 1954, 1963, US 1963.
Section-title page] 1936+
Journey of the Magi
Published as Ariel Poem 8, with drawings by E. McKnight Kauffer, 25 Aug 1927 (and with 350 numbered copies on hand-made paper, 23 Nov). To secure the US copyright, an edition of 27 copies was printed by William Edwin Rudge, Mount Vernon, NY, Dec 1927. (The poem was not otherwise printed in the US until 1936.) Included in The Faber Book of Modern Verse with text as 1936. Then 1936+, Penguin and Sel Poems 1954.
ts1 exists in two versions:
ts1a (sold Bonhams, 10 Apr 2013): single page ribbon copy with ms revisions in ink, initialled at foot. Text and revisions as ts1b. (Facsimile in Bonhams’ catalogue, The Roy Davids Collection Pt. III.)
ts1b (Houghton): carbon, sent to his mother, with revisions in pencil, apparently before those in ts1a.
Ariel proof (Eton College): page proof, emended by TSE, who has
written on the front cover “Rough Proof only without decorations”, then “Corrected T. S. E.” As Ariel except where noted.
ms Signet (Texas): ms copy for Harvard’s literary society, on Faber & Faber notepaper, endorsed “Fair copy made 24 July 1961 by T. S. Eliot for The Signet” on each of the three pages. TSE had been elected to the society, in Dunster Street, Cambridge, in March 1909.
Valerie’s Own Book: fair copy, with two-line spaces 20 ^ 21 (see below) and 31 ^ 32.
3 journey,] journey ts1 journey:] journey. ts1
4 sharp,] sharp; ts1
5 winter.”] winter”. ts1, ms Signet
9 terraces,] terraces ts1
11 Then] What with ts1 1st reading
13 night-fires] nightfires ts1
15 prices:] prices; ts1 (punctuation apparently written over a colon)
17 night,] night ts1
19 With] And ts1, Ariel proof 1st reading
20 this was all] all this was ts1 1st reading
[Poems I 101 · Commentary I 757–63]
20 ^ 21] line space 1936+ ‖ no line space ts1 ‖ new page so line spacing indeterminate Ariel, US 1927 ‖ new page but with line spaces at foot and head Valerie’s Own Book
21 valley,] valley ts1
22 vegetation,] Washington copy 1954 emendation, 1963 ‖ vegetation; ts1, printings prior to 1963, Valerie’s Own Book ‖ vegetation: ms Signet
23 water-mill] watermill ts1, ms Signet beating] beating in ts1 1st reading
24 low] apparently written over s ms Signet sky.] Washington copy 1954 emendation, 1963 ‖ sky line, ts1 1st reading ‖ sky, ts1, printings prior to 1963, Faber Bk Mod V, ms Signet, Valerie’s Own Book
25 meadow.] meadow, ms Signet 1st reading
26 tavern] tavern, ts1 vine-leaves] vine leaves ts1
28 wine-skins] wineskins ts1, Valerie’s Own Book
30 soon] soon, ts1
31 satisfactory.] satisfactory 1936 17th imp. (1959) (presumably broken type), corrected 1936 18th imp. (1961)
32 remember,] remember ts1