The visual image is of the morning star being embraced by the horned i.e.
crescent moon which is then compared to the cuckolding of the blacksmith so
a bit of Jacobean gender-swapping has happened in the transfer - the moon
embraces 'her' shepherd. (Diana and Endymion) I think the licence rests on
visual to symbolic transfer - I don't think there's an additional reference
- and Tom is agitated enough to allow that I reckon.
On 9 September 2012 23:36, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> and thanks, Uche, for this brilliant helpful comment
>
> On 10/09/2012, at 8:15 AM, Uche Ogbuji wrote:
>
> > Ever in awe of Robin's thoroughness, David! Please thank him heartily
> from
> > me as well.
> >
> > So many things always to sat about Tom o' Bedlam, but for now I'll just
> > mention that one bit of the following always puzzled me:
> >
> > The moone embrace her shepherd
> > And the queen of Love her warrior,
> > While the first doth horne the star of morne,
> > And the next the heavenly Farrier.
> >
> > Diana and Endymion (Renaissance schemers deciding Selene wasn't goddess
> > enough for the sleeper), Venus and Mars, easily enough for the first two
> > lines. But I lose the antecedents and referents in the cuckolding stated
> > in line 3, though of course line 4 is crystal clear with Vulcan the
> > cuckolded. I wonder whether the yoking (unique sort of zeugma) of line 3
> > is set up to serve the (very lovely) verse, excused by the addle of the
> > narrator, or whether I'm missing some variant mythic device of the
> crescent
> > moon's horns embracing the morning star.
> >
> > --Uche
> >
> > On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 2:03 PM, David Bircumshaw
> > <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> >
> >> Robin Hamilton asked me to forward this, in reply to Max, on the Tom a
> >> Bedlam poems
> >>
> >>
> >> ------------------------------
> >> Max:
> >>
> >> I've been working on an edition of all of the various Tom a Bedlam
> poems,
> >> of which this is the earliest.
> >> Below a transcription of the 1610 text, and some notes on the source
> MSS.
> >>
> >> (Actually, it’s been so long since I last worked on this, that I’m not
> >> quite sure how reliable the text below is. I think it’s someone else’s
> >> edited and punctuated transcription of the 1610 Giles Earle His Booke
> >> version that I was going to use as the basis of a version collated with
> the
> >> Harley MS and Le Prince d’Amour. I’m pretty sure that somewhere I have
> a
> >> facsimile of the 1610 MS, but curse me if I can find it at the moment.)
> >>
> >> Robin
> >>
> >> ------------------------------
> >>
> >> A Tom a Bedlam Song (1610)
> >>
> >> From the hagg and hungry goblin
> etc
>
--
David Joseph Bircumshaw
**
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