This is mixed symbolism. Red is the color of sunsets. Something is ending. But these are eastern clouds. This is a morning. Something is beginning. We will see what when we turn to the next work in the History.
-copied from here.
I was reminded of the conclusion of Mirkheim by this passage:
"Murcheson's Eye had long since vanished. Now the east was blood-red in a sunrise that still startled Whitbread. Red sunrises were rare on inhabitable worlds."
-Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, The Mote In God's Eye (London, 1979), p. 372.
We have a saying:
"Red sky at night,
"Shepherd's delight.
"Red in the morning,
"Shepherd's warning." (See here.)
Dornford Yates used the phrase, "Red in the morning...," as the dramatic title of a novel.
By describing red sunrises, Anderson and Niven & Pournelle warn the reader of stormy weather ahead.
Searching the blog for sunrises and sunsets shows how often I have found occasion to praise Anderson's descriptions of nature.
