by beatriceotto | Oct 1, 2018 | metaphors
A flint-chip razor simile for a beak’s sharpness. Elsewhere in Tarka we encounter birds skewering frogs through the head with their beaks, or otherwise impaling prey. ‘Its beak was sharp as a rock-splinter.’ Source: Henry Williamson, Tarka the...
by beatriceotto | Oct 1, 2018 | metaphors
A lyrical description of the sun, the moon, and the dreams of an otter – that he might swim, unhunted and unhungry, down to the sea with his otter-son. The metaphor makes it seem a wispy crescent moon lying smile-curved in the sky, and so resembling a falling...
by beatriceotto | Sep 24, 2018 | metaphors
Williamson pays close attention to the calls and cries of birds and animals, and here he distinguishes between the mutual call of a dog and a bitch otter. I found the description of White-tip’s cry extraordinary. ‘White-tip answered him. Her cry was like...
by beatriceotto | Sep 24, 2018 | metaphors
What a way to capture the roar of a powerful river in full flux. ‘… back into the lower river again, which roared and heaved like fighting polar bears.’ Source: Henry Williamson, Tarka the Otter: His joyful water-life and death in the two rivers,...
by beatriceotto | Sep 17, 2018 | metaphors
Tarka the otter is hunted but fights ferociously and strategically. Here he bites back as hounds close in. He gives as good as he gets. See another image for speed conveyed by the slither of a viper, and one drawing on a quick drip tempo. ‘Tarka bit and bit and...
by beatriceotto | Sep 17, 2018 | metaphors
How fast can a pattering heart beat? As fast as water can drip before it starts dribbling. You can’t quantify that transition, but you know it when you see it. Other speed similes use a viper to convey quickness: one by Williamson and another by Christopher...
by beatriceotto | Sep 10, 2018 | metaphors
A wildly meandering river likened to a viper broken by a buzzard – Williamson’s inventiveness is a wonder, and almost always nature-drawn. ‘Seen by day from the hilltops, the river lay its course like a viper broken by a buzzard’s beak and...
by beatriceotto | Sep 10, 2018 | metaphors
A berry crushed into service as a metaphor for a mud-mark. ‘Tarka’s deep seals in the lower ooze showed like big blackberries crushed in the mud.’ Source: Henry Williamson, Tarka the Otter: His joyful water-life and death in the two rivers, illus....
by beatriceotto | Sep 3, 2018 | metaphors
A big round dandelion arching the sky – what a deep yellow sun this is, and I like the ‘light-smitten height’ too. ‘When the sun, like an immense dandelion, looked over the light-smitten height of Cosdon Beacon, Tarka was returning along a...
