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Hugh Selwyn Mauberley quotes

The lines readers remember from Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, by Ezra Pound.

12 quotes · About the book

Standout lines

His true Penelope was Flaubert, He fished by obstinate isles; Observed the elegance of Circe's hair Rather than the mottoes on sun-dials.

E.P. ODE POUR SELECTION DE SON SEPULCHRERead from here
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Giving the rocks small lee-way The chopped seas held him, therefore, that year.

His true Penelope was Flaubert, He fished by obstinate isles; Observed the elegance of Circe's hair Rather than the mottoes on sun-dials.

Unaffected by "the march of events," He passed from men's memory in l'an trentiesme De son eage; the case presents No adjunct to the Muses' diadem.

Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision.

Chapter IIIRead from here
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Even the Christian beauty Defects—after Samothrace; We see {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} Decreed in the market place.

Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision.

We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision.

We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision.

Chapter IIIRead from here
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Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision.

We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision.

All men, in law, are equals. Free of Peisistratus, We choose a knave or an eunuch To rule over us.

All men, in law, are equals.

Chapter IIIRead from here
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Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision. We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision.

All men, in law, are equals.

Free of Peisistratus, We choose a knave or an eunuch To rule over us.

Daring as never before, wastage as never before.

Chapter IVRead from here
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usury age-old and age-thick and liars in public places.

Daring as never before, wastage as never before.

Young blood and high blood, Fair cheeks, and fine bodies;

And no one knows, at sight a masterpiece.

MR. NIXONRead from here
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"I never mentioned a man but with the view "Of selling my own works. "The tip's a good one, as for literature "It gives no man a sinecure."

And no one knows, at sight a masterpiece.

And give up verse, my boy, There's nothing in it.

All quotes

Jump to a chapter
  1. E.P. ODE POUR SELECTION DE SON SEPULCHRE
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. MR. NIXON
  7. Chapter X
  8. ENVOI (1919)

E.P. ODE POUR SELECTION DE SON SEPULCHRE

His true Penelope was Flaubert, He fished by obstinate isles; Observed the elegance of Circe's hair Rather than the mottoes on sun-dials.

Read from here
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Giving the rocks small lee-way The chopped seas held him, therefore, that year.

His true Penelope was Flaubert, He fished by obstinate isles; Observed the elegance of Circe's hair Rather than the mottoes on sun-dials.

Unaffected by "the march of events," He passed from men's memory in l'an trentiesme De son eage; the case presents No adjunct to the Muses' diadem.

Chapter II

The "age demanded" chiefly a mould in plaster, Made with no loss of time, A prose kinema, not, not assuredly, alabaster Or the "sculpture" of rhyme.

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Not, not certainly, the obscure reveries Of the inward gaze; Better mendacities Than the classics in paraphrase!

The "age demanded" chiefly a mould in plaster, Made with no loss of time, A prose kinema, not, not assuredly, alabaster Or the "sculpture" of rhyme.

THE tea-rose tea-gown, etc. Supplants the mousseline of Cos, The pianola "replaces" Sappho's barbitos.

Chapter III

Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision.

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Even the Christian beauty Defects—after Samothrace; We see {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} Decreed in the market place.

Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision.

We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision.

We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision.

Read from here
Show the passage

Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision.

We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision.

All men, in law, are equals. Free of Peisistratus, We choose a knave or an eunuch To rule over us.

All men, in law, are equals.

Read from here
Show the passage

Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision. We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision.

All men, in law, are equals.

Free of Peisistratus, We choose a knave or an eunuch To rule over us.

Free of Peisistratus, We choose a knave or an eunuch To rule over us.

Read from here
Show the passage

All men, in law, are equals.

Free of Peisistratus, We choose a knave or an eunuch To rule over us.

O bright Apollo, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}' …

Chapter IV

Daring as never before, wastage as never before.

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usury age-old and age-thick and liars in public places.

Daring as never before, wastage as never before.

Young blood and high blood, Fair cheeks, and fine bodies;

Chapter V

For two gross of broken statues, For a few thousand battered books.

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Charm, smiling at the good mouth, Quick eyes gone under earth's lid,

For two gross of broken statues, For a few thousand battered books.

GLADSTONE was still respected, When John Ruskin produced "Kings Treasuries"; Swinburne And Rossetti still abused.

MR. NIXON

And no one knows, at sight a masterpiece.

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"I never mentioned a man but with the view "Of selling my own works. "The tip's a good one, as for literature "It gives no man a sinecure."

And no one knows, at sight a masterpiece.

And give up verse, my boy, There's nothing in it.

And give up verse, my boy, There's nothing in it.

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And no one knows, at sight a masterpiece.

And give up verse, my boy, There's nothing in it.

Likewise a friend of Bloughram's once advised me: Don't kick against the pricks, Accept opinion. The "Nineties" tried your game And died, there's nothing in it.

Chapter X

The haven from sophistications and contentions Leaks through its thatch;

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Nature receives him, With a placid and uneducated mistress He exercises his talents And the soil meets his distress.

The haven from sophistications and contentions Leaks through its thatch;

He offers succulent cooking; The door has a creaking latch.

ENVOI (1919)

All things save Beauty alone.

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… not out the song, nor knows The maker of it, some other mouth, May be as fair as hers, Might, in new ages, gain her worshippers, When our two dusts with Waller's shall be laid, Siftings on siftings in oblivion, Till change hath broken down

All things save Beauty alone.

TURNED from the "eau-forte Par Jaquemart" To the strait head Of Mcssalina:

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