Raging Tempest

Poul Anderson's frequent use of the pathetic fallacy has made me more appreciative of this literary device in works by other authors. For example, in Shoal Water by Dornford Yates, CHAPTER V ends when the narrator's friend realizes that he has been followed by one of their enemies:

"'But I've brought the enemy with me as far as Cruise, for a wallah I noticed at Rouen got out of the Paris train.'"

-Dornford Yates, Shoal Water (London, 1942), p. 111.

I was overwhelmed to turn the page and read the opening sentences of CHAPTER VII:

"A tempest raged that night. For hours the wind blew and the rain fell down: but while the wrath of the gale passed over the castle's head, the long roar of the forests, bearing the brunt of the onslaught, was unforgettable." (p. 112)

But then we are assured that all will be well:

"And then, when I woke the next morning, the heaven was blue again, and the sun was out, and a dripping world was gleaming with green and silver and smelling sweeter than any perfumer's shop.

"...this transformation was truly magical..." (ibid.)

Sheila is out enjoying Lancaster Music Festival in venues like the Priory Church and Ye Olde John O'Gaunt pub whereas I am still at home recovering from a cold while rereading not only Poul Anderson's "A Tragedy of Errors" but also a graphic series by Neil Gaiman and the novels of Dornford Yates so I hope that readers will indulge these quotations from the latter who is perhaps a kindred spirit of Anderson although representing a very different era.