This is another post for the Milky Way thread although the galaxy is not named in the relevant passage. The Arvelans, visiting aliens, are on Taiwan at night. They see:
a mountain rising to the right and plunging to the left;
downward, yellow windows and a twinkling seashore village;
"...the ocean, like living obsidian, bridged by a moonglade." (p. 133) (In this linked Wiktionary article, notice the quotation from Mirkheim);
"Across the sky glimmered the galaxy." (ibid.);
there are many individual stars.
We have encountered this use of the word "glade" three times before:
Rain And Words
Glades And The Dead
Four Senses On St. Li In Oronesia
13 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Regretfully, I still have to think this use of "glade" by Anderson was mistaken. The dictionaries I checked insist that "glade" means only an open space within a forest. Unless the OXFORD DICTIONARY includes a rare, obscure meaning for that word in the sense used by Anderson?
Sean
Sean,
But check the link from "moonglade" in the above post.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but this use of "glade" came from it being added to "moon" to make it a word meaning something different from "glade" alone. And I noticed with interest the citations taken from Edgar Rice Burroughs and Poul Anderson.
And we also see this debatable use of "glade" in THE WINTER OF THE WORLD.
Sean
Sean,
Thank you for comments. I am blogging over breakfast and will shortly drive to the gym and swimming pool which have appeared on the blog. Meanwhile, I have been posting on James Blish Appreciation so please check out that blog as well.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Re the James Blish blog: I will, after I wake up. I really should go to bed now! (Smiles)
Sean
Possible plan change here. The weather is good so we might have a long river walk instead. These are the decisions you have to make when you are retired.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But pleasant decisions! And the fact you can do shows how relatively mild and gentle the UK is.
Sean
The new plan is gym and swim, then walk!
Kaor, Paul!
Have fun! For a long, tedious time the tendinitis in my left foot (from a fall last October) prevented me from going on any SATISFACTORY walks. I can say it's about 99 percent healed and I can finally go on real walks!
Sean
Sean,
Walk tall!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Thanks! I'll try! (Smiles)
Sean
Poul's using "glade" metaphorically here, I think.
Congratulations on the recover, Sean. Been there...
Dear Mr. Stirling,
Many thanks, re my vexatious case of tendinitis! So you too had to suffer thru this? At least we now have a chance of NOT becoming food for hyenas! (Smiles)
As for Poul Anderson's use of "glade," I have to now conclude that when not coupled with "moon," his use of that word was mistaken. By itself, "glad" simply does not mean what Anderson tried to metaphorically use it for.
Sean
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