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Sagesse

The poem 'Sagesse 10' by H.D. explores themes of identity and dissolution through the imagery of a rock-pool being submerged by the sea. The speaker reflects on the fear of losing individuality and becoming part of the infinite, questioning the value of peace and existence. Ultimately, it suggests a surrender to the vastness of the sea, where individual significance may be lost.

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SHAMUDANUM A/P SAMUEL Moe
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9 views

Sagesse

The poem 'Sagesse 10' by H.D. explores themes of identity and dissolution through the imagery of a rock-pool being submerged by the sea. The speaker reflects on the fear of losing individuality and becoming part of the infinite, questioning the value of peace and existence. Ultimately, it suggests a surrender to the vastness of the sea, where individual significance may be lost.

Uploaded by

SHAMUDANUM A/P SAMUEL Moe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sagesse “10”

By H.D.

Or is it a great tide that covers the rock-pool

so that it and the rock are indistinguishable

from the sea-shelf and are part of the sea-floor,

though the sea-anemone may quiver apprehensively

and the dried weed uncurl painfully

and the salt-sediment rebel, "I was salt,

a substance, concentrated, self-contained,

am I to be dissolved and lost?"

"it is fearful, I was a mirror, an individual,"

cries the shallow rock-pool, "now infinity

claims me; I am everything? but nothing";

peace, salt, you were never as useful as all that,

peace, flower, you are one of a thousand-thousand others,

peace, shallow pool, be lost.

Copyright Credit: Hilda Doolittle, "Sagesse 10" from Hermetic Definition. Copyright © 1972 by Hilda
Doolittle. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Source: Hermetic Definition (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972)

Sagesse “10”

By H.D.

Or is it a great tide that covers the rock-pool

so that it and the rock are indistinguishable

from the sea-shelf and are part of the sea-floor,

though the sea-anemone may quiver apprehensively


and the dried weed uncurl painfully

and the salt-sediment rebel, "I was salt,

a substance, concentrated, self-contained,

am I to be dissolved and lost?"

"it is fearful, I was a mirror, an individual,"

cries the shallow rock-pool, "now infinity

claims me; I am everything? but nothing";

peace, salt, you were never as useful as all that,

peace, flower, you are one of a thousand-thousand others,

peace, shallow pool, be lost.

Copyright Credit: Hilda Doolittle, "Sagesse 10" from Hermetic Definition. Copyright © 1972 by Hilda
Doolittle. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Source: Hermetic Definition (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972)

Sagesse “10”

By H.D.

Or is it a great tide that covers the rock-pool

so that it and the rock are indistinguishable

from the sea-shelf and are part of the sea-floor,

though the sea-anemone may quiver apprehensively

and the dried weed uncurl painfully

and the salt-sediment rebel, "I was salt,

a substance, concentrated, self-contained,

am I to be dissolved and lost?"

"it is fearful, I was a mirror, an individual,"

cries the shallow rock-pool, "now infinity


claims me; I am everything? but nothing";

peace, salt, you were never as useful as all that,

peace, flower, you are one of a thousand-thousand others,

peace, shallow pool, be lost.

Copyright Credit: Hilda Doolittle, "Sagesse 10" from Hermetic Definition. Copyright © 1972 by Hilda
Doolittle. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Source: Hermetic Definition (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972)

Sagesse “10”

By H.D.

Or is it a great tide that covers the rock-pool

so that it and the rock are indistinguishable

from the sea-shelf and are part of the sea-floor,

though the sea-anemone may quiver apprehensively

and the dried weed uncurl painfully

and the salt-sediment rebel, "I was salt,

a substance, concentrated, self-contained,

am I to be dissolved and lost?"

"it is fearful, I was a mirror, an individual,"

cries the shallow rock-pool, "now infinity

claims me; I am everything? but nothing";

peace, salt, you were never as useful as all that,

peace, flower, you are one of a thousand-thousand others,

peace, shallow pool, be lost.

Copyright Credit: Hilda Doolittle, "Sagesse 10" from Hermetic Definition. Copyright © 1972 by Hilda
Doolittle. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Source: Hermetic Definition (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972)

Sagesse “10”

By H.D.

Or is it a great tide that covers the rock-pool

so that it and the rock are indistinguishable

from the sea-shelf and are part of the sea-floor,

though the sea-anemone may quiver apprehensively

and the dried weed uncurl painfully

and the salt-sediment rebel, "I was salt,

a substance, concentrated, self-contained,

am I to be dissolved and lost?"

"it is fearful, I was a mirror, an individual,"

cries the shallow rock-pool, "now infinity

claims me; I am everything? but nothing";

peace, salt, you were never as useful as all that,

peace, flower, you are one of a thousand-thousand others,

peace, shallow pool, be lost.

Copyright Credit: Hilda Doolittle, "Sagesse 10" from Hermetic Definition. Copyright © 1972 by Hilda
Doolittle. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Source: Hermetic Definition (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972)

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