Author's note:
It seems that quite a number of people are being directed to this post by way of the quotation "Raise high the roofbeam Carpenters" - and that having got here, they must be disappointed to find there is no reference to it. Unless that is, they have also gone to the comment section at the end of the post, in which there is a discussion of the quote, and its origins in the poetry of Sappho.
My own 'roofbeam' reference actually came in another instalment of the story - ie in that one entitled "Moving Figures in a Garden", in which I put it in the mouth of the larger-than-life character,"Cousin Hortense"... This instalment was posted on 12/08/07, and anyone interested enough might go to that post by clicking on the link in the List of Posts archive on the opening page...
So many of my blogger friends seem to be away on holiday at present, that I have deferred posting the next instalment of the story for another few days. I have instead posted a piece on my other page, "Just Blogging", which I hope might be of some interest to anyone who is still around.
I shall be going on holiday myself in ten days' time - but I hope to post at least one more instalment before I go.
What happens to an historic house when it remains in private hands rather than in those of the National Trust? That was the starting point for my story. The people gravitating round it, each one jostling for the best position from which to get possession of it in the end.... the people came later.
List of Characters
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About Me
- I Beatrice
- The working title of the novel is MACAULEY'S HOUSE - though Jack Macauley himself has been dead for more than twenty years when the story opens. Here is an extract from the early pages: " ... The big gaunt old mansion they call Macauley's house had already stood for more than three hundred years by the time Jack Macauley came along. His was very much a twentieth century connection: he came there late in the house's life and stayed but briefly, so that his having given his name to it can only be seen to be one of those curious accidents of history for which there is no real accounting. Ask any of the older locals about Jack Macauley today however, and you will see them smile. Those at least of them who don't scowl, and tell you that the man was an upstart, who brought nothing but disgrace and scandal to the village. The old house still bears his name, for all that. Which makes people ask themselves sometimes if after all it isn't the meek, but the disgraceful - the upstarts and scandal-makers - who most of all inherit the earth; or who are at any rate remembered longest when everything else has gone..."
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12 comments:
I am still here - but busy as its the school hols and the weather is nice. Living by the beach is a constant distraction
Very glad to hear from you Mutley. I had begun to think that I was the only blogger left!
Shall be going away myself soon - but have wasted all of this morning trying to trace the origin of the Salinger story title "Raise high the roofbeam carpenters, the bridegroom cometh!"
Had thought it might be 'Song of Solomon', but find it isn't.... Am now on the track of it via SAPPHO, of all people!
Any ideas? Perhaps Salinger simply made it up?
Things are very quiet in Blogland at the moment Beatrice.
Let me know if you find out the answer to your question Beatrice. I still have all Salinger's books on my shelf - very brown now though. Why do you want to find out incidentally?
Marianne, you are an angel! There you are, apparently having a blissful time with TMITPS (does he read you blog I wonder?) - yet still finding time to leave wonderful comments on all my instalments! I really don't know how I can thank you - but shall do my best as soon as your next appears.
(Much better that you should be living blissfully than blogging though - so I'm not wishing you back too soon.)
PS, Marianne..... I had vague ideas of using the Salinger quote, but feel I ought to know its origins before I do.
My husband is bringing me a new paperback of 'RHT Roofbeam' from New York tomorrow - so perhaps that will throw some light?
('The Catcher in the Rye' was acknowledged as a misquote on the part of the little sister, wasn't it...... so perhaps there's a clue somewhere in the book itself?)
Raise high the roof-beam, carpenters. (Hymenaeus!) Like Ares comes the bridegroom, (Hymenaeus!) taller far than a tall man. (Hymenaeus!)
H. T. Wharton
Hello Beatrice - Glad you're still here, but taking a break. Sorry, I haven't a clue on the Salinger thing - have just googled it. So many pages, so few leads!
I wonder if you'll find out? It does sound biblical - perhaps because of "the bridegroom" - ?
Good luck with that, I'll come back tomorrow...
Lovely to see you both back again, Merry Weather and Aims - and thank you for your interest in the Salinger quote.. I looked into it all again, and find so much of interest that it almost warrants a post of its own on the other page!
When I spoke of the 'Sappho' lead, Aims, it was to that very H.T. Wharton site that I was referring. Almost the whole of Sappho there, it seems! And I too saw that piece - but dismissed it on the grounds of there being no carpenters!
But perhaps you have good reason to be sure about it? (I'd love to know!)
Aims, I went back to Wharton's Sappho pages, and you were quite right: all of the quote was there - it was just worded a little differently.
(The footnote about Hymenaeus was quite interesting, I thought...)
"EPITHALAMIA, BRIDAL SONGS
Fr. 91
Raise high the roof-beam, carpenters. (Hymenaeus!) Like Ares comes the bridegroom, (Hymenaeus!) taller far than a tall man. (Hymenaeus!)
H. T. Wharton Artists,
Raise the rafters high!
Ample scope and stately plan--
Mars-like comes the bridegroom nigh,
Loftier than a lofty man.
Anonymous,
Edinb. Rev., 1832, p. 109.
High lift the beams of the chamber,
Workmen, on high;
Like Ares in step comes the Bridegroom;
Like him of the song of Terpander,
Like him in majesty.
F.T. Palgrave, 1854. Quoted by Hephaestion as an example of a mes-hymnic poem, where the refrain follows each line. The hymenaeus or wedding-song was sung by the bride's attendants as they led her to the bridegroom's house, addressing Hymen the god of marriage. "
The only thing that still puzzles me is: why do I remember the Salinger story title as "Raise high the roofbeam, carpenters, the bridegroom cometh"....? When in fact the bridegroom phrase doesn't ever appear to have been a part of it!
Abstruse stuff, this, I know. And I apologise for keeping at it so doggedly. But what's bugging me now is the puzzle of why I should have remembered it with the bridegroom bit attached ..... if in fact that never was a part of Salinger's title?
(Mysteriouser and mysteriouser...)
Oh, I see you have found it already - the Wharton piece. Fascinating stuff.
Yes, I found the Sappho-by-way-of- Wharton link. Though am still not sure if the 'Epithalamia' were 'traditional' choruses of the time - or Sappho's own verse? That doesn't seem to me to have been made entirely clear; and my Classicist daughter is not well versed in Sappho, alas....
And I'm still puzzling over my recollections of the Salinger title - but have just sent you a long email about that as a matter of fact, so won't go into it further here. (Must be driving everyone else mad I think!)
I'm almost done with my waterfall of work here, so please leave me a treat by way of lots to read when I come back! Have a brilliant holiday!
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