Cooking with Tender Buttons Food: Breakfast. Stanzas 10-16. Discussion 2

THE BOOK ..........................-           TENDER BUTTONS

THE SUBBOOK ...................-           FOOD

THE SUBPOEM ...................-           Breakfast

WORD COUNT (Total)……...-           840

STANZA(S)............................-            22

—Stanzas 1-9                                       312

—Stanzas 10-16                                   224

THE LEADER........................-           THE STEINY ROAD POET

CO-LLABORATORS.............-            MODPO STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS

The middle stanzas of “Breakfast.” seem to indicate a problem between two opposing forces and strong advice about resolving whatever the issue might be. Poetically, Stein uses rhyme and other devices to catch the reader’s attention.

Among the topics addressed in this post are: losing sound in a bell jar—an argument between Gertrude and Leo Stein; poetic fantasia; romancing of the dinner—roast (beef?) and cake; the ups and downs of relationship; imperative statements and sacramental language.

A breeze in a jar and even then silence, a special anticipation in a rack, a gurgle a whole gurgle and more cheese than almost anything, is this an astonishment, does this incline more than the original division between a tray and a talking arrangement and even then a calling into another room gently with some chicken in any way.

A bent way that is a way to declare that the best is all together, a bent way shows no result, it shows a slight restraint, it shows a necessity for retraction.

Suspect a single buttered flower, suspect it certainly, suspect it and then glide, does that not alter a counting.

A hurt mended stick, a hurt mended cup, a hurt mended article of exceptional relaxation and annoyance, a hurt mended, hurt and mended is so necessary that no mistake is intended.

What is more likely than a roast, nothing really and yet it is never disappointed singularly.

A steady cake, any steady cake is perfect and not plain, any steady cake has a mounting reason and more than that it has singular crusts. A season of more is a season that is instead. A season of many is not more a season than most.

Take no remedy lightly, take no urging intently, take no separation leniently, beware of no lake and no larder.

“It’s interesting that roast is on its own wanting to rhyme so much with toast, and toast is there but its name being suggested with the rack and the crusts.” Peter Treanor

 “And the point, this time, is in the word ‘disappointing.’” Teri Rife

LOSING SOUND IN A BELL JAR

Karren Alenier opened the discussion experiencing a bell jar:

A breeze in a jar and even then silence, a special anticipation in a rack, a gurgle a whole gurgle and more cheese than almost anything, is this an astonishment, does this incline more than the original division between a tray and a talking arrangement and even then a calling into another room gently with some chicken in any way.

“I believe Stein is talking about a bell jar where it is possible create a vacuum. Stein would have been familiar with bell jars as a scientist. The vacuum inside a bell jar is partial and has to do with atmospheric pressure related to gas. This might be associated with a breeze. Here is an example:”

An example of a classroom science experiment involving a bell jar is to place a ringing alarm clock under the bell jar. As the air is pumped out of the sealed bell jar, the noise of the alarm clock fades, thus demonstrating that the propagation of sound is mediated by the air. In the absence of their medium, the sound waves cannot travel.[2]

“The example may account for ‘a talking arrangement and even then a calling into another room’ and given some chicken, Stein might be pointing to an argument she had with her brother during the period when she was writing Tender Buttons. In Roastbeef. stanza 9 and 30, Stein gives us room to comb chickens and a slender chicken, which by way of Plato’s featherless biped as human, may represent Leo Stein, the brother with whom she initially shared the apartment 27 rue de Fleurus. Here, the chicken (Leo) seems to be in the way. If this is an argument between the sister and brother, then cheese seems to pejorative.

“However, bell-shaped jars were used also as covers for cheese—a cheese dome.”

Emily W asked, “Was GS a scientist too?”

Claudia Schumann answered, “Yes, GS studying medicine in college.”

Alenier added:

“Emily, she was doing scientific research at Harvard. She also went to a summer program at the famous Woods Hole marine biology center in Massachusetts.”

Emily W replied:

“I studied Chemistry down the street from Harvard. When the vacuum is broken, air will rush in, equalizing the pressure. It's the same thing that happens in our lungs when we inhale. Which makes me think of the spongy, ‘cheesy’ if you will, texture of them. Maybe she had some sitting in specimen jars around the lab. Maybe the lungs or the exhale or gurgle has something to do with the talking and calling.”

peter treanor· 5 months ago 

A breeze in a jar and even then silence,

“I can see and hear the cheesy wheezy lungs inflating (in the rack of the rib cage, also ribs of lamb called a rack).

“There's a feel of some sort of experiment going on—tubes, jars, heat rising, steam, a breeze created, a test tube rack, all that gurgling as the liquids boil and bubbles bubble, like some kind of distillation. Anticipation and astonishment at the results and transformations in the process

“But I also thought of this when reading breeze in a jar then silence, this seemed to suggest the breeze made a noise and then all was quiet, maybe when the breeze stopped.”

Launching an extended analysis, Alenier replied:

“Emily and Pete, I'm thinking about the broken vacuum and the pressure being equalized. Maybe Gertrude felt she was living in a fishbowl as the metaphor goes and by breaking that jar, that bell jar, the social pressure on her diminished. And as a consequence she could breathe better.

STEIN’S POETIC FANTASIA

“With stanzas ten and eleven, Stein is creating a poetic fantasia.

“The last line of stanza one flows poetically into the first line of stanza two, keying on the word way:”

…even then a calling into another room gently with some chicken in any way.

A bent way that is a way to declare that the best is all together, a bent way shows no 

“Stanza 12 image-wise seems the most fantasia like to me with its single buttered flower and how Stein is advising the reader to regard it suspiciously as it glides. It makes me think of the animated film Fantasia.”

Suspect a single buttered flower, suspect it certainly, suspect it and then glide, does that not alter a counting.

“Stanza 13 repeats the word hurt but it seems to me more poetic than negative given the repetition of the word mended:

A hurt mended stick,

a hurt mended cup,

a hurt mended article of exceptional relaxation and annoyance,

a hurt mended,

hurt and mended is so necessary that no mistake is intended.

Emily W interjected:

“Mending—another job for women, an important one since new clothes weren't quite so cheap. A family member told me that when he was in school it was alright to go to school with clothes that had been mended, but not that were torn or had a hole.”

ROMANCING OF THE DINNER

Alenier continuing said,

“In stanzas 14 and 15, Stein moves to what I'm going to call a romancing of the dinner with the roast and cake:

What is more likely than a roast, nothing really and yet it is never disappointed singularly.

A steady cake, any steady cake is perfect and not plain, any steady cake has a mounting reason and more than that it has singular crusts. A season of more is a season that is instead. A season of many is not more a season than most.

“Also notice the alliteration steady steady steady singular season season inStead season season moSt.

“Stanza 16 also plays with alliteration but of L:”

Take no remedy lightly, take no urging intently, take no separation leniently, beware of no lake and no larder.

“lightly intently leniently lake larder.”

Picking up on stanza 15, Teri Rife said,

“I think that steady cake could be a cheesecake, which is a cake that may have crusts. Cheesecake is ancient, generally believed to have been first made by the Greeks. From pappaspost.com:”

‘Greek brides and grooms were also known to use cheesecake as a wedding cake. It also became a custom for a Greek bride to bake and serve cheesecakes to her new husband’s friends as a gesture of hospitality. Incidentally, this concept eventually paved the way for wedding cakes to become a tradition that continues today.’

“When the Romans conquered Greece, the recipe came to them. They modified it adding eggs, and sometimes put it into pastry.

LANGUAGE THAT SINGS

“We've seen the ‘s’ alliteration over and over. It's so singing. And, look, the word ‘sing’ is actually right there in the middle of the stanza, contained in the word ‘singular.’ And, look again, there are 4 ‘seasons!’ Another instance of the repetition of a word 4x, Emily, and this time with a noun—unless, of course, it's a verb (to season our breakfast).”

Emily W asked:

“I was thinking about what you said about ‘a Rose is rose...’ how Stein said she was doing something different with every repeat, but I have to wonder, how is the reader supposed to know what she is doing with the repeats? Is it even important?”

Rife answered:

“The way I look at it is that it's important to me to figure out everything I can about this remarkably spare, yet very rich text. It's become all about the journey, not the destination. Even though I will never know what Stein is doing, I do know that it enriches my life to try, especially in the company of others.

“‘...steady...steady...steady...’ is like what we say when we're trying to balance something that's precarious, and the tension in the situation seems to increase as time goes along—a ‘mounting reason’ for carefulness. The ‘steady-ness in the first line pops up in the second, too, in the form of ‘instead.’ more...more...many...most’ This is building.”

Alenier commented:

“Teri, I also think your discussion about steady—mounting reason—falls in line with ‘the difference is spreading’ (“A carafe, that is a blind glass.”).

RELATIONSHIP ROLLERCOASTER

Moving in a different direction, Treanor asked answered:

“Is there something being said about relationships?

“There's division and arrangement in stanza 10.

“The best is all together in stanza 11.

“Stanza 12, A single buttered flower (a buttercup? any yellow flower? Or butter and flour?) which we are told to suspect and does not alter in a counting, which seems to emphasize it always stays as one, on it's own no matter how often we count it.

“Stanza 13, we have the series of things (objects) that are hurt and mended. Hurt is a recurring theme in TBs, it’s a strange word to use for an object as hurt requires consciousness, it is a feeling, how can an object be hurt? Does she mean some kind of damage? But hurt and mending seems to suggest repair or healing. Repair or re-pairing or pairing suggests relationship. Healing as relationship?

“Stanza 14, never disappointed singularly. Singularly can be singular or exceptional.

“Stanza 15, singular again, singular crusts.

“Stanza 16, take no separation leniently.

“Woven in with whatever else is woven in there, there does seem to be some sort of suggestion about being single, hurt and mending (healing), disappointment and an urge to not accept separation.

“And a steady state (I want to say steady state not steady cake when I read this), a steady cake seems to be perfect and not plain. Is a cake a mixture of ingredients? A mixture of many, not a single ingredient but a relationship of ingredients. An elaborate (not plain) cake that has a reason for mounting does sound like a wedding cake, mounted in tiers.”

Circling back to her question on Stein’s use of repetition, Emily W commented:

“I don't mean to be stuck on the repeating, well at least not too stuck. I am really just curious about it, since there are so many things one might try to convey through repetition, and spoken repetition is much easier to make sense of than written! It's like little mental puzzles to sort out, but maybe it doesn't even matter what she was thinking when she wrote it, but as you suggest, Teri, maybe it's more about what we as readers make of it.

“Anyway, the hurt, could be anything, feelings, something torn or broken, but whatever it is, it's been fixed. hurt and mended is so necessary that no mistake is intended.

To me this sounds like advice, of sorts—make sure to fix things so it doesn't get worse.”

Answering Emily W, Rife said:

“I think Gertrude fully intends for us to be stuck on the repeating, maybe not just because the word or idea being repeated is somehow important but also because repeating is part of the natural human speech pattern. We just sort of go on and on, filling up any silence.

“I feel a connection between ‘a bent way’ (stanza 11) and ‘a hurt mended (stanza 13).’ They both address necessity. A bent way ‘...shows a necessity for retraction.’ (take it back) and ‘a hurt and mended is so necessary that no mistake [mis-take] is intended.’

“The ‘hurt mended’ thing becomes more personal as things proceed. There are three instances of ‘hurt mended’ as adjectives describing a stick, a cup and an article. Then, there is just ‘a hurt mended,’ where the ‘hurt’ is the noun, modified by ‘mended.’ This, I think, is a hurt to a person, not a thing. Finally, the ‘hurt mended’ is broken into two pieces with the word ‘and.’ Is it necessary to have been hurt in order to appreciate the state of having been mended? We often say that we must experience pain in order to understand joy.

“Doesn't ‘A bent way that is a way to declare that the best is all together,...’ put you in mind of Emily Dickinson's ‘Tell the truth but tell it slant’?”

Responding to Treanor, Rife said:

“Pete, when I read your post above, it made me think about a way of life, which would include one's relationships. So, I've been contemplating and re-contemplating this section. Do we have here Buddhist principles served up on a breakfast tray?

“Back to the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths

Does ‘anticipation’ of the described pleasures of the breakfast tray represent our cravings, which are a cause of suffering and keep us attached to the floating world? Does all the ‘hurt’ and ‘mended’ represent the suffering and the cessation of suffering, the basic orientation of Buddhism?

IMPERATIVES

“There aren't many other instances of the use of imperatives in TB (Objects). I see only these so far:

—‘Come to season that is there any extreme use in feather and cotton.’ (‘A substance in a cushion.’)

—‘Pack together a string and enough with it to protect the centre, cause a considerable haste and gather more as it is cooling, collect more trembling and not even trembling, cause a whole thing to be a church.’ (‘A plate.’)

—In this section of ‘Breakfast.’, we have:

‘Suspect...suspect...suspect...glide.’

‘Take...take...take...beware.’

These imperatives seem to be the directives put forward by some philosophical or religious authority rather than the writer's directives to the reader.

“Back on the literal level of the breakfast tray, I think the ‘rack’ (stanza 10) might be a toast rack, perhaps one like this with integral opaque glass jam and butter dishes.

The onomatopoeic ‘gurgle a whole gurgle’ (stanza 10) could be the sound of the coffee percolator, and the ‘likely’ ‘roast’ (stanza 14) might refer to the coffee bean from whence the brew comes.

‘...chicken in any way’ (stanza 10) could, once again, be hen's eggs. (You know, kind of like an ‘asparagus four ways’ item on fancy restaurant's menu.)

‘...a single buttered flower...’ (stanza 12) might be a pat of butter pressed in a mold carved with the image a flower.

INTEGRATING THE FOOD WITH RELATIONSHIP

Treanor responded:

“Teri, yes I see what you mean I’m getting a stronger sense of food and breakfast from it now from what you have written.

“Breeze in a jar—could it be some kind of marmalade or preserve? A breeze-serve?

“A rack as a rack of toast as you say. A special anticipation maybe referring to toast, as in to honour or recognise (anticipate/celebrate) someone/thing as well as grilled bread in the toast rack.

“The gurgle as the gurgling coffee.

“And some chicken in any way is brilliant as eggs, I'd never have seen that, I'll have my chicken sunny side up.

“A bent way... to declare, no results, slight restraint and retraction stump me a little. All I see with the bent way is a bent French baguette, they always seem to break when you carry them. 

“I love your butter with a flower embossed on it, and am thinking that butter curls look a bit like a bud or a flower too. And then the glide could then be the butter being spread on the toast, gliding over it on the knife.

“The hurt mended stick makes me think of a French stick of bread again.

“The roast as the roast coffee beans.

“And the cake, as the loaf of bread (It’s common for older Irish people to call a homemade Soda bread loaf ‘a cake of bread’). Mounting reason makes me think mounting, increasing, rising as yeast makes the bread rise when baking. And it does sound crisp and crusty as a French baguette does.

“All that anticipation, hurt and mending could very well be thought of as craving, suffering and breaking of the cycle of suffering. The lotus flower of Buddhism, the buddhered /buttered flower. There does seem to be some feeling of redemption and religion about, the hurting the mending, bread and suffering.

“What you say about the imperatives is interesting, suspect and take and beware. Is it instruction and a warning? Beware of what though?—no lake and no larder! It’s about as clear as beware the Ides of March! Both lake and larders are stores (of water and food) is that what she means? Beware having no food in store? Both begin with an L (lake/ larder). Beware words that begin with L? (unlikely). Gertrude, if you are warning us you could have been a bit clearer couldn’t you?”        

RHYMING WORDS

Without directly answering Treanor’s questions, Rife continued her word cataloging and analysis:

“In opposition to the ‘single’ and ‘singularity,’ there are lots of pairs of words that rhyme:

breeze - cheese

bend (bent) - intend (intended) - mend (mended) (meant?)

mistake - cake - take - lake

so - sew (mend) - no

[the implied] toast - roast

buttered - larder (slant rhyme? Both are fats.)

“Then there is the tallying up:

‘...does that not alter a counting.’ is accounting

‘...any steady cake has a mounting reason...’ is amounting

“And the point, this time, is in the word ‘disappointing.’

“Are we to beware of any place that is without drink (lake) and food (larder) to sustain the body, the mind and the soul?

SACRAMENTAL LANGUAGE

“This language seems sacramental in some ways. The cup (chalice), breaking bread, ‘...the best is all together’ (communion). The repetition of the word ‘take’ in the last line made me recall a bible verse. ’Take, eat...’

Matthew 26:26-28

26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.  King James Version (KJV)

“Whoa—that's big!”

WHAT ABOUT THE ABUNDANT NO’S

Alenier responded:

“Wow, Teri and Pete, your combined analysis takes eating to a whole new level!

“When it comes down to it, we still have this from Miss Stein:”

Take no remedy lightly, take no urging intently, take no separation leniently, beware of no lake and no larder.

“Don't all these no's cancel out the warning?”

Playfully, Rife responded:

“Though it's bad manners, we're playing with our food!

“I didn't read the no's as canceling out the warning. I read ‘Take no remedy lightly...’ to mean, in effect, ‘Take a remedy seriously’; ‘...take no urging intently...’ to mean, in effect, ‘take an urging distractedly’; and ‘...take no separation leniently...’ to mean, in effect, ‘take a separation effort fully.’ But, where does that take us?

“The ‘Roastbeef.’ threads are too long for me to get through in one session to find out the answer to this question--did you talk about this patriotic ballad, ‘The Roast Beef of Old England?’ I can't remember why, but I ran across it today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roast_Beef_of_Old_England HA!

Alenier answered:

“Teri, after I got over laughing heartily at your line about playing with our food (I know, bad manners on my part!), I sobered up for a few minutes to read your interpretation of the no no no no no before going on to marvel at the substantive drinking song ‘The Roast Beef of Old England.’ (It has to be a drinking song more so than eating 'cuz you would only sing this under the influence, no?)

“One thing for sure, there are many ways to interpret the string of no's. 

Take no remedy lightly, take the lack of a remedy with a grain of salt.

Take no urging intently, take the lack of an urging (someone pushing you) with vigor.

Take no separation leniently, take the lack of any separation without too much judgment.

Beware of no lake and no larder, pay attention if there is no reserve of water or supply of food.

“So now my interpretation is still a warning as is yours. Actually your interpretation is not vastly different from mine.

“Perhaps in my rendition, the first three does diminish the warning until you get to the last two which pertain to how we can survive. We need water and food. How we get get these necessary life-sustaining things seems to be addressed somewhat in the first three no's.

“Maybe this is Stein fighting with herself to instill self-discipline. Maybe Leo was her guide for discipline and now that he has left 27 rue de Fleurus, she must step up and take the leadership role as the head of the house.”

Treanor responded:

“Oh those no's throw the whole meaning of the sentence into a whirl, they set my head spinning. I just couldn’t work out if they meant to take the lack of remedy, urging, and separation lightly, intently and leniently or if they make it mean that we should not take them lightly, intently and leniently and so have the opposite approach to them. And the no in the sentence means we can read it either way. So the meaning is thrown into total doubt. Each way has the opposite meaning. She must have known this and done it purposefully. She throws these no's and negatives into her sentence formations quite often. She seems to play with their effect with relish. It seems like an extra layer of unclarity on top of the already ample layers of unclarity. Clarity really isn’t her purpose is it?

“Teri, I really like the pairing of the rhyming words that you have done above. I didn’t notice them, but there they are as large as life. There does seem to be singles and pairs, relationship and communion. It’s interesting that roast is on its own wanting to rhyme so much with toast, and toast is there but its name being suggested with the rack and the crusts.

“And all those takes and bread and cups do seem biblical. The communion bread, called the host, oh no, it rhymes with roast and toast! Is she on about communion in some way?”

Alenier added:

“Yes, Teri, I agree with Pete about your pairings of the rhyming words!

“It could very well be she was thinking about communion given she and Alice were touring Spanish churches. Maybe she was picking up on the liturgical poetry and that (communion) just was absorbed into Stein's text.”

THE STICK, THE WAY, THE REMEDY

Rife said:

“Karren, I like your ideas about Stein stepping up to the role as head of household and possible ripples into her language from visiting the churches in Spain. The other day I was thinking about those church tours which we discussed earlier in Objects, when trying to figure out why a ‘cane’ was showing up. And it popped into my head that Cain sounds like a cane. I'll have to go back and look at that. ‘A Method of Cloak.’ maybe?”

Since no one in the Tender Buttons discussion forum addressed Teri’s connection to ‘A Method of Cloak.’, Steiny will. In this mid-section of ‘Breakfast.’, Stein presents us with A hurt mended stick, a hurt mended cup. The stick could be a cane or point to Cain killing his brother Abel relative to G-d favoring Abel over Cain. So Cain would be the stick that has been afflicted and Abel would the afflicted cup. According to the story of Cain and Abel, G-d favored Abel because he made the sacrifice (lamb or goat) proscribed by divine orders but Cain had another way of operating and brought fruit and vegetables to the sacred alter. Therefore, Cain’s way might be described by Stein as A bent way. ‘A method of cloak.’ begins A single climb to a line, a straight exchange to a cane, indicates a straight way so it contrasts with stanza 11 of ‘Breakfast.’. Still the title ‘A method of cloak.’ indicates hiding something as Cain tried to avoid telling G-d what he did to his brother.

The bottom line is that stanzas 10 through 16 of Breakfast.’ Indicate two parties in some kind of altercation (division—stanza 10) requiring some kind of solution (remedy—stanza 16).

Participants: Karren Alenier, Claudia Schumann, Teri Rife, Peter Treanor, Emily W