Thursday 8 June 2017

"High Is Heaven And Holy"

It may only have been in the combox but somewhere on the blog I have quoted CS Lewis saying that, when God became man, myth became history. Father Ignatius says this, almost quoting Lewis, in SM Stirling, The Scourge Of God (New York, 2009), Chapter Twelve, p. 321. But of more interest on Poul Anderson Appreciation is what Ignatius says later in Chapter Twelve while praying, looking at mountain peaks and dazzled by the sun:

"'High is heaven, and holy...'" (p. 328)

This memorable phrase from Poul Anderson's The People Of The Wind has been quoted several times on this blog. See here. (It is a search result. Scroll down.)

The setting of sun on snowpeaks is the same. The phrase was introduced earlier in The People Of The Wind as part of an Ythrian song and makes a perfect conclusion to the novel:

"Snowpeaks flamed. The sun stood up in a shout of light.
"High is heaven and holy." (See the above link)

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Yet another VERY neat and appropriate Andersonian allusion from Stirling. I like it! And it reminded me of how Genesis repeatedly said of God's creative acts: "And God saw that it was good" (verse 10, etc.). The created cosmos is good, not bad!

Sean