Subject
Nabokov and the late Princess Margaret
From
Date
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EDITOR's NOTE. My question re the above brought only few replies. One
from Russia by Alexey Sklyarenko, a translator of ADA, another from
Alexander Justice, and a third that I have mislaid. Thanks to all.
The answer is at the end of section I, chapter 23 of ADA. Van and Ada
are trying to get rid of pesky eight-year-old Lucette so they continue
their ebats. They offer her a prize book if she can memorize a poem in a
set time. The poem is:
"Here said the guide, was the field,
There, he said was the wood.
This is where Peter kneeled,
That's where the Princess stood.
No, the visitor said,
You are the ghost, old guide.
Oats and oaks may be dead,
But SHE is by my side."
The poem is in a small brown anthology owned by Van. He tells Lucette
that the poem she is to learn is "...a tiny one ...composed in tears
forty years ago by the poet Laureate Robert Brown, the old gentleman
whom my father once pointed out to me up in the air on a cliff under a
cypress, loooking down on the foaming turquoise surf near Nice, an
unforgettable sight for all concerned. It is called 'Peter and
Margaret'."
It, of course, reeks of Robert Browning.
Either VN or Brian Boyd (I forget) identified the poem as referring to
the parting of Princess Margaret and RAF officer Peter Townsend in 1953.
What can subscribers of NABOKV-L add to the story?
from Russia by Alexey Sklyarenko, a translator of ADA, another from
Alexander Justice, and a third that I have mislaid. Thanks to all.
The answer is at the end of section I, chapter 23 of ADA. Van and Ada
are trying to get rid of pesky eight-year-old Lucette so they continue
their ebats. They offer her a prize book if she can memorize a poem in a
set time. The poem is:
"Here said the guide, was the field,
There, he said was the wood.
This is where Peter kneeled,
That's where the Princess stood.
No, the visitor said,
You are the ghost, old guide.
Oats and oaks may be dead,
But SHE is by my side."
The poem is in a small brown anthology owned by Van. He tells Lucette
that the poem she is to learn is "...a tiny one ...composed in tears
forty years ago by the poet Laureate Robert Brown, the old gentleman
whom my father once pointed out to me up in the air on a cliff under a
cypress, loooking down on the foaming turquoise surf near Nice, an
unforgettable sight for all concerned. It is called 'Peter and
Margaret'."
It, of course, reeks of Robert Browning.
Either VN or Brian Boyd (I forget) identified the poem as referring to
the parting of Princess Margaret and RAF officer Peter Townsend in 1953.
What can subscribers of NABOKV-L add to the story?