jbf@ccieng5.UUCP (just being friendly) (12/31/83)
Dear Esophagus,
Your analysis is uncharitable. This displeases people like me who are
always willing to extend the benefit of the doubt. Even though Twain claims
that there is not a shred of sense in the entire paragraph, this is nothing
"wrong". I have read countless passages that attempted to establish
"atmosphere" with less coherence than Twain's (except for the esophagus).
No doubt this is what he was satirizing.
There is nothing wrong with a "spicy morning". This is a noun phrase
conveying a pleasing pungence to the air. While it is true that the morning
itself is not spicy, neither can a morning be cold, bright, or foggy. It
is simply more concise to attribute such conditions to the morning than to
the environment accompanying it.
"Upper air", of course, is relative. If I were awakening with my head
on the grass, the altitude of the blossoms could qualify (this, by the way,
is the impression I formed). Thus, the sky, distinct from the "upper air",
could still be empty; I perceive a cloudless day.
Even if lilacs, with which I am acquainted, and laburnums, with which I
am not, do not normally indicate "flashing and burning", remember that they
are now "lit with the glory-fires of autumn".
I am not conversant with the peculiarities of the larch and pomegranate,
but I don't think botanic expertise should be required in a quiz of this sort.
This, of course, may simply be sour grapes on my part. After all, anything
I don't know can hardly be worth knowing (translation: yup, I missed that one)!
Still, who is to say that the passage is not fantasy. It does not stretch my
imagination very far to see two plants united in one environment. (This is
weakened by my complaint about the esophagus: in a fantasy, surely genetic
alteration of such an organ could enable it to hover in the atmosphere upon
a wing that acted motionlessly via some sort of repulsive force)
I find nothing contradictory among "glory-fires", "spicy", and "stillness".
Olfactory and visual splendor can coexist with auditory stillness.
What I am saying is: "Give the author 'tremendous poetic license'". Why
not? The paragraph would fail not because of any specific phrases, but because
of its lack of motivation. If I were not trying to find a mistake, I would
never have continued reading.
My challenge: supply a context within which the passage, exactly as stated,
is perfectly sensible. I will summarize any attempts to the net. My summary
will not include anyone simply mailing a refusal to participate.
Audacio fortuna juvat,
The Grey Mouser