Sunrise And Morning Star

Travelling south in a coach on the M6 Motorway yesterday, we saw light appear above the horizon beneath the morning star. Then the sun arose. I know that it happens every day although I do not usually see it. Inwardly, I recite a prayer to the sun god, Savitri. (I have just learned that this verse is an important mantra in Hinduism. See here.)

As a Poul Anderson fan, I remember appropriate passages. On further reflection, some of these passages refer to the evening star. However, morning star and evening star are the same planet: Venus in the Solar System; Dido in the Virgilian System.

"...often [Niaerdh] rose early, long before the sun, to watch over her sea. Upon her brow shone the morning star."

-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 467-640 AT I, p. 467.

Addressed to Mary, mother of God:

"Pure as yourself, your evenstar shines above the sunset."

-ibid., IV, p. 640.

Thus, this narrative opens with a goddess in the morning and closes with the mother of God in the evening.

"Above them paled Dido, the morning star."

-Poul Anderson, The Day Of their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 74-238 AT 1, p. 76.

There ought to be more but that is all for now.

Sunset And Evening Star

"Gibraltar Falls."

When Nomura has rescued Feliz:

"Beside them, the ocean roared onward." (p. 126)

In The Guardians Of Time, a double space separates this single-sentence paragraph from the following paragraph. In Time Patrol, the space is emphasized by the presence of three asterisks.

In either case, the following paragraph reads:

"The sunset to which Nomura had leaped ahead was not on anybody's record either. It turned the land golden. The falls must be afire with it. Their song resounded beneath the evening star." (p. 127)

I have linked to previous sunsets and evening stars. See also Tennyson's (scroll down) "Sunset and Evening Star." (Some of his nautical terms require explanation.) (See also The Morning Star.)

Morning And Evening Stars

More from "Star of the Sea":

"Upon [Naerdha's] brow a star burned white as the fire's heart." (II, p. 557)

"In the end [Naerdha] found [Wotan's] spear floating beneath the evening star." (II, pp. 560-561)

Poul Anderson imaginatively recreates earlier stages of Northern European mythology and the goddess's name changes appropriately.

The following passage brings together the morning and evening stars and is quoted at greater length because of its beauty:

"Mindful of thanks he owed, [Gutherius] raised an altar to Nehalennia, where after each voyage he made generous offering; and whenever he saw the evening star or the morning star shine forth, he bowed low, for they too are Nehalennia's.

"Hers are the trees, the vine, and the fruits thereof. Hers are the sea and the ships that plow it. Hers are the well-being of mortals and peace among them." (III, p. 628)

And this passage shows why some of us appreciate an imaginative polytheism.

The Morning Star

Poul Anderson's The Day Of Their Return begins by quoting JOB, iv, 12-16, which ends: "...I heard a voice..." so what does the voice say? See here.

The evening star is also the morning star:

"...the morning star shone there, the planet of the First Chosen."
-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 74-238 AT 1, p. 75.

"He/they went up the mountain to the Arena. Above them paled Dido, the morning star."
- op. cit., p. 76.

In the Virgilian System, the third planet, Dido, has native inhabitants and the fourth planet, Aeneas, has been colonized by human beings. We have read about:

Peter Berg from Aeneas;
Hugh McCormac riding with his sons on Aeneas;
Dominic Flandry and Kathryn McCormac on Dido.

We are about to read an entire novel set on Aeneas where Dido is both morning and evening star.

"Among Thieves": Continued

Poul Anderson, "Among Thieves," see here.

Comparing the Double Kingdom and Kolresh to the elephant and the whale (see here), Rusch argues that the two together, foot soldiers and space nomads, can conquer Earth. He is practicing a massive deception but why can he not take Queen Ingra into his confidence?

Apparently a mutation makes peace with Kolresh impossible. Maybe we will learn more about this as we (re)read further?

"A wind sighed over the slow thunder on the beach. A line of sea birds crossed the sky, thin and black against glowing bronze." (p. 169)

Three senses. Slightly earlier:

"...the copper spires of the little palace reached up to the evening star and the hours-long sunset of Ostarik blazed gold across great quiet waters." (p. 164)

References to the evening star always evoke peace even though this is not the evening star of Earth.

"He found a bench on the glistening edge of the strand, and sat down and looked across a steady march of surf, turned to molten gold by the low sun and the incandescent western clouds." (p. 167)

Space opera but with lyrical passages.

When Unduma returns to Earth, we learn that the towers of Capital City rear above the Zambesi River, that not Anglic but Tierrans is spoken, that the Premier of the Federation Parliament is Ngu Chilongo and that the Minister of Defence is Mustafa Lefarge. As in his stories where Sweden is the dominant world power, Anderson sets out to confound his readers' expectations.

Molten Gold And The Evening Star

Poul Anderson, "Chain of Logic" IN Anderson, Twilight World (London, 1984), pp. 35-68.

Roderick Wayne reminisces about life before the War (World War III, that is):

"The quiet summer dusks were not to be spent in worry or petty plans for the next day, there was always time enough for that. He simply walked along in his loose-jointed fashion, breathing tobacco smoke and the cool still air, watching the tall old trees mirror themselves in the water of the molten gold and copper of sunset. There would be a few students on the broad smooth lawns, who would hail him in a friendly way, for Bugsy Wayne was well liked - otherwise only the river and himself and the evening star." (1, pp. 39-40)

We now recall later evocative references to the evening star: Ave Stella Maris!

Here we also find a vivider multi-sensory descriptive passage than we might expect in an sf paperback about mutants and a trip to Mars -

hearing: quiet, friendly hails;
sight: dusks, reflections, gold, copper;
taste and scent: tobacco;
sensation: cool air.

We are also starting to meet the characters who will matter in this part of the story.

Morning And Evening Stars

"But often [Niaerdh] rose early, long before the sun, to watch over her sea. Upon her brow shone the morning star."
-"Star of the Sea,", I, p. 467.

Now we know: the morning star appears above the sea because it shines on the brow of a goddess who rises early to watch over her sea. Mythological explanations combine beauty with naivety and, in this passage, Poul Anderson imagines an earlier stage of Northern mythology.

In a prayer addressed to "Mary, mother of God...":

"Pure as yourself, your evenstar shines above the sunset. Guide us by your light."
-IV, pp. 639-640.

In this second passage, the feminine supernatural being is not only described but also addressed. Anderson's "Star of the Sea" begins with a goddess who rises early, displaying the morning star, and ends as night overtakes sailors who, seeing the evening star, invoke the Star of the Sea. Thus, Anderson's narrative transports his readers from early paganism to later Christianity.

Crows And A Condor

"Overhead winged nest-bound crows and darting swallows, runes changeably scrawled on a sky gone purple in the east, cold green in the west. The evening star trembled into sight."
-"Star of the Sea," 10, p. 554.

I meant to close the quote after the crows but "runes" and "evening star" are also significant.

"A condor hovered aloft."
-"The Year of the Ransom," 15 April 1610, p. 655.

These birds are becoming ubiquitous. See A Condor Wheeled.

The Evening Star

On Earth, in a prayer addressed to "Mary, mother of God...":

"Pure as yourself, your evenstar shines above the sunset."
-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 467-640 AT p. 640.

On Aeneas in the Terran Empire:

"Above a last greenish trace of sunset, beneath a wan flicker of aurora, burned pure white Dido, the evening star."
-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 367-520 AT Chapter Six, p. 425.

However, Dido, tragic heroine of the Aeneid, contrasts sharply with Mary, the Messiah's mother in the New Testament.

Meanwhile, the sun is long set here...

Star Trek And The Future Histories

David Birr explains this bizarre cover image in a comment here.

Star Trek TV series, films and novels have become a future history and a cultural reference point. When I told a friend about a "reality storm" in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, he remarked that that sounded like something out of Star Trek, then laughed when I told him that one of the characters had said that that sounded like something out of Star Trek.

A narrator in Robert Heinlein's The Number Of The Beast compares the bridge of Lazarus Long's spaceship to the bridge of the Enterprise - although I would prefer not to refer to The Number Of The Beast.

Isaac Asimov scientifically advised Star Trek. James Blish adapted episodes as short stories and wrote the first Star Trek novel. At a Memorial evening for James Blish in London, Charles Monteith of Faber and Faber described Blish's Cities in Flight future history as "a higher and greater Star Trek."

Larry Niven adapted a Known Space story as a Star Trek animated episode. Niven and Jerry Pournelle place a Chief Engineer from New Scotland on a Navy spaceship and say that this ethnicity is common among Engineers.

If Kirk were in Intelligence and Vulcan were in the Klingon Empire, then Star Trek would parallel Poul Anderson's Flandry series. Many sf stories about spaceship crews exploring extrasolar planets could be adapted as Star Trek episodes.

Addendum: Are Moties like intelligent tribbles?

Morning And Evening Star

"Upon her brow shone the morning star."

-"Star of the Sea," I, p. 467.

"Pure as yourself, your evenstar shines above the sunset." (IV, p. 640)

On the first and last pages of this story: two sightings of the planet Venus (as we understand it).

"...her brow..." is the brow of the goddess, Niaerdh.

"...your evenstar..." is the star of:

"Mary, mother of God, mother of sorrows, mother of salvation..." (IV, p. 639)

Poul Anderson has brought us on a long journey through myth, time and history from Germania, 70 AD, to a ship crossing the Atlantic:

"Westward we sail but night overtakes us. Watch over us through the dark and bring us on into day." (p. 640)

One of our earliest childhood memories, passing through the dark and back into day. The story begins with a myth in the morning and ends with a prayer in the evening. And aspects of the goddess have passed into the Mother of God. Our lives are lived when this process is complete.

Mahound

In a divergent timeline, Time Patrolman Keith Denison meets yet another man with a grandiose title:

"'...his Venerability, Albin Archcardinal Fil-John, Grand Duke of the Northern Provinces, graciously consents to see you,' the friar intoned."
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), PART SIX, 1980alpha A. D., p. 291.

Denison had already wondered what kind of rank "archcardinal" was. In our timeline, the cardinals are the electoral college for the Papacy but there are no "archcardinals." Again we notice a church-state fusion. This (arch)cardinal is also a Duke and kings, if they still exist, are subordinate.

Denison's approach to Albin is sufficiently impressive. From his cell:

in a closed carriage to a palace on a hill;
sumptuous corridors;
a grand staircase;
a gilt bronze door showing Biblical scenes;
a high white room;
sunlight streaming through stained glass;
an Oriental carpet;
a man on a throne, robed in scarlet and gold;
a chair twenty feet from the throne;
a bellpull by Albin's right hand.

However, what led me back to this scene was something else. There are two disparaging references to the Prophet of Islam. First:

"'...black Mahound...'" (p. 289)

Secondly, Albin tells Denison that some "Avenging Jews," skilled craftsmen and engineers, quite possibly commanding black arts, escaped when Europe was cleansed on their kind and:

"'settled among the worshippers of Mahound...'" (p. 292)

This recalls Chesterton's Lepanto:

Mahound is in his paradise above the evening star,
-copied from here.

(Here is our evening star yet again although this time in neither a pagan nor a Christian context.)

Demons gather:

They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound.
-copied from (see above).

OK, Chesterton. The Prophet is not called "Mahound" and is not worshiped. However, I appreciate the fantasy narrative in which he summons to his Paradise:

Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.

Giants and the Genii,

Multiplex of wing and eye,

Whose strong obedience broke the sky

When Solomon was king.
-copied from (see above).

The Time Traveller And The Psychotechnician

Two very different men, the Time Traveller from the late nineteenth century and a psychotechnician from the Galactic centre, visit the far future Earth: 

"...an eclipse was beginning. Either the moon or the planet Mercury was passing across the sun's disk. Naturally, at first I took it to be the moon, but there is much to incline me to believe that what I really saw was the transit of an inner planet passing very near to the earth."

-HG Wells, The Time Machine (London, 1973), 14, p. 94.

"The evening star twinkled forth, low and white on the dusk-blue horizon. Venus - or was it Mercury? He wasn't sure. He wished he knew more about the early history of the Solar System, the first men to ride their thunderous rockets out to die on unknown hell-worlds - the first clumsy steps toward the stars."

-Poul Anderson, "The Chapter Ends" IN Anderson. The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 3 (Riverdale, NY, July 2018), pp. 195-215 AT p. 202.

The Time Traveller comes from a time before space travel. Wells later wrote about The First Men In The Moon. 

The Time Traveller sees the eclipse at a time long after human life has ended. The Psychotechnician sees the evening star at a time when its last human inhabitants are about to evacuate Earth. The Time Traveller sees his "Further Vision." The psychotechnician is present when "The Chapter Ends." The two men resonate across the timelines.

Night On Aerie

Starfarers, 17.

"The evening star glowed in western heaven. The rings were a banded blend of pallid hues, around them the true stars and beyond those the galactic belt, as chill as the airs that sent mists aswirl about our ankles. Afar, some animal howled."  (p. 135)

We note that:

Aerie has an evening star, like Earth and some other Andersonian planets;

like the colonized planet, Altai, in the Technic History, it has rings;

"the galactic belt" is yet another description of the Milky Way;

the howling animal fits the mood at this point in the narrative;

the description appeals to three senses, colors, chill and howling.

Hers Are The Trees

I have quoted a passage beginning, "Hers are the trees...," three times. See here.

The preceding paragraph reads:

"Mindful of thanks he owed, he raised an altar to Nehalennia, where after each voyage he made generous offering; and whenever he saw the evening star or the morning star shine forth, he bowed low, for they too are Nehalennia's."
-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 467-640 AT III, p. 628.

As I said in one of the posts linked above, I value this goddess without believing in her literal existence. Thus, my position is intermediate between that of pagans who believe that the gods literally exist and that of secularists who think that the gods are not only nonexistent but also valueless or even harmful. Maybe the Ysans can help. See Lir II.

Well-Being And Peace

"Star of the Sea."

Veleda negotiates peace. That sounds directly relevant to us now but, I think, only superficially. We have the language of peace.

Meditation and sunlight inspire me to think that we can share this Earth and contemplate its beauty, even that that is what we are here to do - except that I do not believe that anyone has put us here for any purpose. The one being has developed in such a way that it has become conscious of itself through us. What happens next is our responsibility, not anyone else's.

We can contemplate natural beauty either directly or through the shared world-views of those who in the past have personified aspects of nature:

"...whenever he saw the evening star or the morning star shine forth, he bowed low, for they too are Nehalennia's.

"Hers are the trees, the vine, and the fruits thereof. Hers are the sea and the ships that plow it. Hers are the well-being of mortals and peace among them." (III, p. 628)

We imagine Nehalennia and it is we that are responsible for well-being and peace.

Zoria

Poul Anderson, A KNight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry (Riverdale, NY, March 2012), pp. 339-606.

Zoria is the sun of the planet Dennitza in Poul Anderson's A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows. I have encountered "Zoria" as a feminine name and am surprised not to find it with that spelling on Wikipedia. It seems to be the same as "Zorya."

In Slavic mythology, Zorya Utrennyaya is the Morning Star and Zorya Vechernyaya is the Evening Star. Thus, "Zoria," if this is the same name, is equivalent to Venus.

The speaker of the italicized opening passage of A Knight... says that Yovan Matavuly:

"...led the Founders the long lightless way to this our Morning Star..." (p. 341)

Googling suggests that "Dennitza" is a feminine personal name. "Gospodar" is defined here. No doubt other Dennizan terms could be tracked down but it would take some digging.

Missing Links

I find that I am helpless when the technology doesn't work which is not a good way to be. At least for the time being, I am unable to edit posts. It is thought that the problem is with the site, not with the machine.

I want to link The Morning Star both to The Bible On The Blog and to Sunset And Evening Star but am unable to do so, so I have taken this more roundabout way to make the connections. If, having published this post, I notice any errors in it, then I will be unable to correct them. If, as sometimes happens, the links don't work, then I will be unable to fix them. The struggle continues.

Addendum: OK. I can edit recent posts, as I am editing this one now, via a different route but it is not as easy for older posts.

Addendum II: The post, "The Morning Star," has now been linked to those two earlier posts.

Evening On Esperance

The People Of The Wind, III. 

Not for the first time (!), we reread Poul Anderson's The People Of The Wind. However, this time, we try to grasp not every rich and colourful detail in Poul Anderson's text but, more specifically, any information to be gleaned about the Ythrian institution of choths and, by extension, the related concepts of Khruath, Wyvan, Oherran and deathpride. 

However, some other details still catch our attention. I want to skip past:

"Ekrem Saracoglu, Imperial governor of Sector Pacis..." (p. 34)

- having found him unpleasant before, although there was some combox disagreement about that, but I cannot ignore a summer evening in an Esperancian garden:

"By then they were strolling in the garden. Rosebushes and cherry trees might almost have been growing on Terra; Esperance was a prize among colony planets. The sun Pax was still above the horizon, now at midsummer, but leveled mellow beams across an old brick wall. The air was warm, blithe with birdsong, sweet with green odors that drifted in from the countryside. A car or two caught the light, high above; but Fleurville was not big enough for its traffic noise to be heard this far from the centrum." (pp. 34-35)

There is much here to divert our attention from current pursuits.

No traffic noise. Perfect. 

Four senses: light; warmth; birdsong; odours. 

We have become accustomed to aircars as part of the scenery in the Technic History. On another humanly colonized planet, Hermes, French doors left open at night allow the Tamarin-Asmundsens to appreciate:

light from two moons;

cool air;

flower odours;

trills of a local bird equivalent;

city sky-glow;

aircars -

"...like many-colored glowflies."

-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT X, p. 152.

Four senses: light; coolness; odours; trills.

On Terra, in Flandry's time:

"White cloud wandered through blue clarity; aircars sparkled in sunlight. A breeze brought coolness and a muted pulse of machines in the service of man. And here came the souffle."

-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 1-188 AT III, p. 32.

Four senses: light; coolness; muted pulse; taste.

To return to Esperance, planets in the Technic History are made more real partly by being mentioned in more than one context. Nicholas van Rijn had worked on t'Kela with Joyce Davisson from Esperance. Now there is action on the surface of Esperance. It is such a prize colony planet that it reads exactly like Earth. Roses and cherries grow there as if on Terra. But there must be some difference. When Saracoglu plucks and eats a grape:

"The taste held a slight, sweet strangeness; Esperancian soil was not, after all, identical with that of Home." (p. 38)

And the evening proceeds:

"The sun was now gone from sight, shadows welled in the garden, an evening star blossomed." (ibid.)

Again, like Earth.

Science Fiction: Parallel Narratives

This evening, Nygel, Ali and I at Art Questor's 64th birthday pArty. Also present, Chris Gregory, author of:

Star Trek: Parallel Narratives
The Prisoner: Be Seeing You
Who Could Ask For More: Reclaiming The Beatles

Topics of conversation:

Dune screen adaptations;
Star Wars;
Star Trek;
Doctor Who;
Poul Anderson Appreciation;
mundane cultural phenomena.

Unspoken by me - Poul Anderson wrote:

better time travel than Doctor Who;
better interstellar empires than Dune or Star Wars;
better interstellar exploration than Star Trek.

Read Anderson's Time Patrol, Star Ways (written earlier), Starfarers and  Rise Of The Terran Empire.

Glory to the Emperor!