Wednesday 22 June 2016

Bright Firelight

I have quoted many passages describing natural beauty in Poul Anderson's works. People in past ages not only lived directly with nature but also made for themselves a comfortable indoor environment when it was necessary to shelter against winter nights:

"By bright firelight, in a room warm and full of the smells of woodsmoke, roast meat, rushes on the floor, where flames crackled and talk and laughter rang...'" (Hrolf Kraki's Saga, p. 125)

Firelight has replaced sunlight. Here we have:

light;
warmth;
pleasant smells;
sounds of crackling, talk and laughter;
by implication also, the taste of roast meat.

Thus, four (or five) senses in less than a single sentence.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

True, but this kind of comfort was usually obtained by hard toil and labor in ages before technology really began advancing, in the late 18th century. That was why slavery lasted so long, lack of better means of carrying out laborious work.

Sean