Line 43: "The bride-green yawns strich all orerrnd her, wid the poplores, erlms and faroof bildungs all roturnin' in her planetree obit, undherstood still art the cindre like the Son, the veri soeurce of lied."
Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "The wide green lawns stretch all around her, with the poplars, elms and far-off buildings all rotating in her planetary orbit, and her stood still at the centre like the sun, the very source of light."
"bride-green"
Lucia as bride. But does the "green" mean she's an innocent virgin as in inexperienced or does it mean she's totally done loads of guys (which she has possibly including Samuel Beckett although he was really pining for her father) as in Frost's poem about nothing gold can stay because it becomes all experienced and green? Or is this a reference to The Bride of Frankenstein which it totally could be because that movie came out in 1935. Remember how she referenced Frankenstein earlier?
"yawns strich"
Lucia is coming awake (yawning and striching) as she leaves the hospital to enter the natural grounds surrounding it. Perhaps this is why she feels like a green bride. It's like when Madonna was all, "You make me feel like I've never fucked before!" It's also an obsolete term for an owl which would be just like Moore to throw around obsolete words he probably uses on the regular. If I really wanted to spend a lot of time writing nonsense explications for this stuff, I'd be following the possibility of The Bride of Frankenstein and the owl as the main thematic aspects of Lucia's subconscious thoughts. But I don't have the time. I'm fifty already!
"all orerrnd her"
"All around her" while setting up the metaphor of the orrery with Lucia at the center (in the Non-Lucy-Lips version of her thought). Also suggestive of an error with "err" but what would that be? An error that Lucia is even here? Perhaps "bride-green" suggests "bridegroom" in reference to Giorgio which was an error?
"wid"
Suggestive of "widow" now that Giorgio has died? Giorgio is the only lover Lucia has thought about so far. I'm probably reaching with the Giorgio stuff although this really makes the whole Bride of Frankenstein thing work since Giorgio was a monster.
"poplores, erlms and faroof"
Come on, Alan! Don't get so abstract that my Lit degree can't even help like it will help me in the entry on "bildungs"! This all just sounds like trees (and a roof!) turned into absolute nonsense! This is the 43rd time that it hits me: this section should be worked out in a discussion group and not by me sitting alone and sad in a tiny office while I listen to "Only Women Bleed" through ear buds. Maybe I should attack these one at a time the way Frankenstein would.
"poplores"
Pop Tarts? Oh! The first obvious being that Lucia is unhealthily fixated on her father is "pop"! So maybe we're referencing the "lore" of her "pop" here. In other words, Finnegans Wake or Ulysses or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or whatever else he wrote. The actual Lucy-Lips change is the "lars" with "lores" which makes "lores" the important part of this word. "Lore" can equate to the past or to the fairy tales and mythology Lucia previously mentioned. It is oral tradition, wisdom and history passed by word of mouth. Which is what Lucia is doing with her Lucy-Lips. Although, technically, her language needs to be read to really understand it all. But ignore that because Alan Moore paints it as the words expanding and entering the listener's mind fully formed with all of their meaning, at least when the Angles speak.
"erlms"
"Elms" but with an "r" shoved into the middle. Perhaps "early"? "Her lms"? "Early Ms"? Maybe it's just comparing Lucia to the elms with "her limbs." You stumped me, Moore! Being raised on boring American crossword puzzles, I'm at a disadvantage with this kind of crossword clue, what we call "cryptic crosswords" in the states.
"faroof"
"Far off" but suggestive of the roof of the buildings in contrast with the trees. The buildings located around the grounds are "far off" and distant, no longer within the concerns of Lucia. Oh wait! Putting them all back together, maybe we get something like "the lore from far off realms"? Yep. Got it. That's definitely it and I don't have to think about it any more.
"bildungs"
"Buildings" but turned into "bildungs" as in bildungsroman, a story dealing with a person's coming of age or spiritual awakening. This might be due to Lucia constantly thinking about the formative moments of her past or it could suggest that Lucia, around 80 years of age, has become a new person and is facing a new set of formative years in her moments of freedom from Saint Andrew's Hospital, or from the "bildungs."
"roturnin'"
"Rotating" and "turning" as the spheres on the orrery of which Lucia is at the center. The two words together, describing the motion of the Non-Lucy-Lips sentence's main metaphor, become "returning." As in Lucia is returning to, possibly, her childhood through memory and the adventure of exploring the grounds, the "far off realms."
"planetree"
"Planetary" for the metaphor but more literally a flat expanse surrounded or dotted with trees (the planets in orbit around Lucia).
"obit"
"Orbit" but getting back to the all important spectre of death hanging over everything ("obit-" meaning perished; "obitus" meaning death in Latin). Also often used in place of "obituary" as this chapter could be seen as Moore's obituary for Lucia Joyce. Especially if she dies at the end of it! Shh! Don't spoil it for me!
"undherstood"
"And her stood" (British equivalent of the American "and her standing") but turned almost perfectly into the word "understood." Lucia understands something, perhaps to do with her coming death ("obit")?
"still art"
As a still life. Picture the moment: Lucia standing in a wide empty space with various trees surrounding her at different distances. A moment in the life of a spinning and vibrant solar system of trees and Lucia.
"cindre"
"Cindre" for "centre" because the sun, a glowing hot "cinder", rests at the center of the solar system, or, in this case, the orrery. Lucia is that glowing cinder, burning with lore of her strange past.
"like the Son"
Lucia, at the center of the orrery, compares herself to the sun. But she's also comparing herself to Jesus, possibly due to her persecution by others, possibly simply because of the things her schizophrenia has her believing. The mental connections caused by schizophrenia between everything in the universe can seem quite godlike and all-knowing.
"the veri soeurce of lied."
The sun and, in this case, Jesus are seen as "the very source of light." But here we get both "lied" and "veri" (as in the Latin for truth or reality). Lucia cannot discern the difference between reality and illusion due to her mental illness. It is her "light" that shines on and defines her surroundings. It's possible "soeurce" is meant to suggest Eurydice who was abandoned to Hades because of an act of love. Lucia was sent to the hospital by her father though he was quite against it because he felt it was the best thing for Lucia.
This was the first sentence in a new paragraph so some of the things I've speculated may work into larger metaphors through the paragraph. Or they may go nowhere!
Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "The wide green lawns stretch all around her, with the poplars, elms and far-off buildings all rotating in her planetary orbit, and her stood still at the centre like the sun, the very source of light."
"bride-green"
Lucia as bride. But does the "green" mean she's an innocent virgin as in inexperienced or does it mean she's totally done loads of guys (which she has possibly including Samuel Beckett although he was really pining for her father) as in Frost's poem about nothing gold can stay because it becomes all experienced and green? Or is this a reference to The Bride of Frankenstein which it totally could be because that movie came out in 1935. Remember how she referenced Frankenstein earlier?
"yawns strich"
Lucia is coming awake (yawning and striching) as she leaves the hospital to enter the natural grounds surrounding it. Perhaps this is why she feels like a green bride. It's like when Madonna was all, "You make me feel like I've never fucked before!" It's also an obsolete term for an owl which would be just like Moore to throw around obsolete words he probably uses on the regular. If I really wanted to spend a lot of time writing nonsense explications for this stuff, I'd be following the possibility of The Bride of Frankenstein and the owl as the main thematic aspects of Lucia's subconscious thoughts. But I don't have the time. I'm fifty already!
"all orerrnd her"
"All around her" while setting up the metaphor of the orrery with Lucia at the center (in the Non-Lucy-Lips version of her thought). Also suggestive of an error with "err" but what would that be? An error that Lucia is even here? Perhaps "bride-green" suggests "bridegroom" in reference to Giorgio which was an error?
"wid"
Suggestive of "widow" now that Giorgio has died? Giorgio is the only lover Lucia has thought about so far. I'm probably reaching with the Giorgio stuff although this really makes the whole Bride of Frankenstein thing work since Giorgio was a monster.
"poplores, erlms and faroof"
Come on, Alan! Don't get so abstract that my Lit degree can't even help like it will help me in the entry on "bildungs"! This all just sounds like trees (and a roof!) turned into absolute nonsense! This is the 43rd time that it hits me: this section should be worked out in a discussion group and not by me sitting alone and sad in a tiny office while I listen to "Only Women Bleed" through ear buds. Maybe I should attack these one at a time the way Frankenstein would.
"poplores"
Pop Tarts? Oh! The first obvious being that Lucia is unhealthily fixated on her father is "pop"! So maybe we're referencing the "lore" of her "pop" here. In other words, Finnegans Wake or Ulysses or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or whatever else he wrote. The actual Lucy-Lips change is the "lars" with "lores" which makes "lores" the important part of this word. "Lore" can equate to the past or to the fairy tales and mythology Lucia previously mentioned. It is oral tradition, wisdom and history passed by word of mouth. Which is what Lucia is doing with her Lucy-Lips. Although, technically, her language needs to be read to really understand it all. But ignore that because Alan Moore paints it as the words expanding and entering the listener's mind fully formed with all of their meaning, at least when the Angles speak.
"erlms"
"Elms" but with an "r" shoved into the middle. Perhaps "early"? "Her lms"? "Early Ms"? Maybe it's just comparing Lucia to the elms with "her limbs." You stumped me, Moore! Being raised on boring American crossword puzzles, I'm at a disadvantage with this kind of crossword clue, what we call "cryptic crosswords" in the states.
"faroof"
"Far off" but suggestive of the roof of the buildings in contrast with the trees. The buildings located around the grounds are "far off" and distant, no longer within the concerns of Lucia. Oh wait! Putting them all back together, maybe we get something like "the lore from far off realms"? Yep. Got it. That's definitely it and I don't have to think about it any more.
"bildungs"
"Buildings" but turned into "bildungs" as in bildungsroman, a story dealing with a person's coming of age or spiritual awakening. This might be due to Lucia constantly thinking about the formative moments of her past or it could suggest that Lucia, around 80 years of age, has become a new person and is facing a new set of formative years in her moments of freedom from Saint Andrew's Hospital, or from the "bildungs."
"roturnin'"
"Rotating" and "turning" as the spheres on the orrery of which Lucia is at the center. The two words together, describing the motion of the Non-Lucy-Lips sentence's main metaphor, become "returning." As in Lucia is returning to, possibly, her childhood through memory and the adventure of exploring the grounds, the "far off realms."
"planetree"
"Planetary" for the metaphor but more literally a flat expanse surrounded or dotted with trees (the planets in orbit around Lucia).
"obit"
"Orbit" but getting back to the all important spectre of death hanging over everything ("obit-" meaning perished; "obitus" meaning death in Latin). Also often used in place of "obituary" as this chapter could be seen as Moore's obituary for Lucia Joyce. Especially if she dies at the end of it! Shh! Don't spoil it for me!
"undherstood"
"And her stood" (British equivalent of the American "and her standing") but turned almost perfectly into the word "understood." Lucia understands something, perhaps to do with her coming death ("obit")?
"still art"
As a still life. Picture the moment: Lucia standing in a wide empty space with various trees surrounding her at different distances. A moment in the life of a spinning and vibrant solar system of trees and Lucia.
"cindre"
"Cindre" for "centre" because the sun, a glowing hot "cinder", rests at the center of the solar system, or, in this case, the orrery. Lucia is that glowing cinder, burning with lore of her strange past.
"like the Son"
Lucia, at the center of the orrery, compares herself to the sun. But she's also comparing herself to Jesus, possibly due to her persecution by others, possibly simply because of the things her schizophrenia has her believing. The mental connections caused by schizophrenia between everything in the universe can seem quite godlike and all-knowing.
"the veri soeurce of lied."
The sun and, in this case, Jesus are seen as "the very source of light." But here we get both "lied" and "veri" (as in the Latin for truth or reality). Lucia cannot discern the difference between reality and illusion due to her mental illness. It is her "light" that shines on and defines her surroundings. It's possible "soeurce" is meant to suggest Eurydice who was abandoned to Hades because of an act of love. Lucia was sent to the hospital by her father though he was quite against it because he felt it was the best thing for Lucia.
This was the first sentence in a new paragraph so some of the things I've speculated may work into larger metaphors through the paragraph. Or they may go nowhere!
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