Mirkheim Miscellany

When, at the Supermetals mine on Mirkheim, Grand Duchess Sandra Tamarin of Hermes sees:

one large, quadrupedal Wodenite;

 two raven-faced Ikranankans;

a four-armed Gorzuni;

 

a leonine Ivanhoan;

 

a sauroid Vanessan;

 

two small, squirrel-like Cynthians;

four human colonials -

- she reflects that:

"Vigeland might have sculptured them."
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT Chapter VII, p. 122.

David Falkayn quotes more poetry:

"-Fear and trembling Hope,
"Silence and Foresight; Death the Skeleton
"And Time the Shadow...."
-op. cit., Chapter VIII, p. 132.

This is from a poem by William Wordsworth (see here) although what it means is another matter. (OK. I have reread it and it makes more sense.)

We find another description of the Milky Way as seen from space:

"...the Milky Way foamed across the girth of heaven..."
-op. cit., Chapter X, p. 155.

We will probably be noticing such descriptions forevermore. Whenever Poul Anderson's characters are in space, they can look at a screen or through a porthole. We might also notice the descriptions of the Magellanic Clouds and the Andromeda galaxy that usually accompany references to the Milky Way.

Somewhere in JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion:

"And thus died (name), last of the Elven kings of old."

Anderson resorts to similarly bardic phraseology when he intones:

"In this wise died Michael Falkayn, older brother of David and, since their father's death a pair of years ago, head of the Falkayn domain."
-op. cit., Chapter X, p. 157.

We are to understand that these deaths, in Middle Earth and in the Technic History, are indeed important events. Suddenly we are being told the first names of Falkayn's closest relatives. Family loyalties and responsibilities are important themes in Mirkheim:

"Van Rijn stood at the border of the field, holding his great-granddaughter by the hand."
-op. cit., Chapter XI, p. 159.

When David learns of his brother's death, he tells van Rijn:

"'I'm the new head of the family and president of the domain. That's where my first duty lies.'"
-op. cit., Chapter XII, p. 180.

"'...once a government starts dividing property up, where does it stop? I worked hard for what I have, and I mean for my youngsters to have it after me...'"
-copied from here. 

Mirkheim describes:

the scene from space (see above);
the un-Earthly surface of Mirkheim (see here);
beautiful scenery on the terrestroid Hermes and in the Terrestrial Pacific.