Sunday, 14 July 2019

The Heaven

Poul Anderson has taught us, or at least me, to appreciate:

descriptions of the night sky;

in particular, descriptions of the Milky Way whether seen from a planetary surface or from within a spaceship;

descriptions of scenery appealing to three or more of the senses.

I now notice such descriptions in the works of other authors especially when their styles are very different from Anderson's, e.g.:

"The night was perfect and all the winds were still. The heaven was one great hatchment flaunting in all its splendour the lovely mystery of bearings we call the stars. The countryside was sleeping, and, but for a sentinel owl, we might have had the world to ourselves."
-Dornford Yates, Storm Music (London, 1934), CHAPTER II, pp. 62-63.

See also:

Literary Writing In The 1930s
Different Descriptions

(Yates never refers to "the Milky Way" as such.)

Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patens of bright gold.
-copied from here.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Nice, that bit you quoted from Dornford Yates STORM MUSIC. I would note we do not see three or more senses in that text.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
The winds were still so I thought that our attention was being drawn to silence? We need the sense of hearing to be aware not only of sounds but also of their absence? (So I thought.)
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Well, I can see ABSENCE of sound also making sense in this context.

Sean