Tuesday, 1 September 2026

Giving Thanks

Again, what looks like plain English might turn out to be a Biblical quotation.

In Poul Anderson's works:

"'Father, I thank Thee,' he said."
-Poul Anderson, Tau Zero (New York, 1970), CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE, p. 197.

"'Father,' Coffin murmured, 'I thank Thee.'"
-Orbit Unlimited, part four, p. 134.

And in the Fourth Gospel:

"Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me." (Jn. 11:41)

We have quoted The Same Prayer In Two Timelines before but this is the first time that it has occurred to us to check whether that straightforward-sounding expression of thanks was Biblical in origin.

We have previously checked on Coffin's equally straightforward-sounding phrase, "'Strengthen me, God...'" (see here)

A full list of Biblical allusions is impossible because they are embedded in our language.

(Less posts today because of physical exercise and also other rereading: A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine, highly recommended and a good contrast with sf, like Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.

(I need toast and hot chocolate.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

There are so many direct quotes, clear allusions, and possible allusions to the Scriptures in Anderson's works that it would need the passionate zeal of a "Dictionary" Murray to track them all down.

Ad astra! Sean