I missed a point in the previous post. We identified two Ranaun sayings: first, the parable, "'A tree which grows too high will topple at last'"; secondly, Djuanda's reply, "'...the Trees of Ranau were not high enough.'" (IX, p. 78) However, Djuanda's concluding remark is also significant:
"'...how splendid the great tree must have been while it lived!'" (ibid.)
That phrase summarizes Poul Anderson's works: nothing lasts but much is splendid while it lives, like King Hiram's Tyre:
"It would die, at last, all of this, centuries hence, as everything must die; but first, how mightily would it have lived! How rich would be its heritage!"
-Poul Anderson, "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 229-331 AT p. 328.
Parallels between the Technic History and the Time Patrol are always satisfying. And now it is time for my second mug of coffee and some other reading on a sunny Sunday morning.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
This mention of King Hiram's Tyre reminded me of the descriptions of the far vaster Admiralty Center we get in THE REBEL WORLDS and HUNTERS OF THE SKY CAVE, ending with Flandry's poignant reflections about it in both works.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Those passages are also relevant but the theme permeates Anderson's works.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
It does, and similar passages can be found in others of the stories of Anderson. Such as his descriptions of New Rome/Constantinople in THERE WILL BE TIME and THE GOLDEN HORN.
Ad astra! Sean
I confess I cribbed a bit from ‘the Trees’ when describing the filet-dwelling dunedain of Muir Woods/Eryn Muir in “The Desert and the Blade”.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Now that was interesting, the Trees of Ranau influencing how the "Dunedain" of your Emberverse living.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
See the post, "Living In Trees," Monday, 30 October 2017.
Paul.
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