See:
The Structure Of Star Of The Sea
Poul Anderson's works set in historical or prehistorical periods often describe seasonal changes particularly at the beginning of a chapter or of some other discrete narrative passage.
In The Broken Sword, XXIV:
"Winter bled away under the joyous weapons of spring." (p. 176)
"As the weeks passed into months, [Freda] felt the same stirring within her that brought back the birds and called forth buds like clenched baby fists." (p. 177)
"Winter went in rain and pealing thunder. The first soft green spread over trees and meadows. The birds came home." (p. 178)
"[Freda] stood in twilight with the blossoms of an apple tree overhead, drifting down on her at each mild breeze. The winter was gone. Skafloc lived in the springtime, in cloud and shadow, dawn and sunset and high-riding moon, he spoke through the wind and laughed through the rain. There would be winter, and winter again, in the great unending ring-dance of the sun. But she bore the summer beneath her heart, and every summer to come." (ibid.)
"The days lengthened and earth burst into its fullness. Warm winds, shouting rains, birdsong and deer and fish silvery in the rivers, flowers and light nights - More and more Freda felt her baby stirring." (p. 179)
Chapter XXV begins:
"In late summer the northland weather turned rainy. For days and nights on end, wind scourged the elf-hills and veiled them in lightning-blinking grey." (p. 180)
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Re Freda: That's exactly how mothers should feel about their unborn babies, despite whatever the circumstances might have been causing their pregnancies.
Ad astra! Sean
Note how important the seasons are to the people in the books. Poul got that exactly right.
Seasons cause *less* difficulty with modern technology, but are still relevant.
Note how in the more northerly parts of Canada deliveries often go by 'ice roads' over lakes and swamps in the winter and shorter winters make that harder.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Jim!
Mr. Stirling: Correct, life was so "seasonal" in the early 900's. So much of what people could do had to be planned according to what the seasons allowed.
Jim: I watched with great interest a series of TV shows called ICE ROAD TRUCKERS, detailing how much of the supplies/goods people in the northern parts of Alaska/Canada needed were shipped there using frozen roads/lakes. A big problem being thaws, both during and at the end of winters.
Ad astra! Sean
Yeah, but they're not generally life-or-death important.
Post a Comment