Tuesday 13 February 2018

Alliterative Prose

We have discussed alliterative verse and even prose. See here. (Scroll down.) There is a short passage in Mirkheim:

"'Impossible.' Sandra walked from him, back to the window. Wind whooped, rain rushed, thunder went like enormous wheels. Winter was on its way to Starfall."
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT Chapter XVII, p. 239.

Or is this more verse disguised as prose? It seems to have that sort of rhythm but I cannot quite rearrange it into lines of verse.

Anderson is describing weather, as often before:

"...thunder resounded..." (Chapter XVII, p. 232);
Sandra heard the trumpet of wind and the march of rain "...as if Pete rode by..." (ibid.);
"Rain struck the garden like spears..." (p. 233);
"Lightning flared...thunder rolled..." (ibid.);
by p. 241, there is "An early snow..." when Sandra's yacht leaves Hermes.

The weather, of course, reflects what is happening to the characters. I think that the early snow evokes a renewed purity (or something) as Sandra and Falkayn escape from their occupied planet.

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