Pithy, evocative imagery in three-legged microcosms of meaning. Having coined the term ‘triologism’ I believe this to be the only collection of these tum-tee-tum phrases in the universe. Updated Tuesdays … triologism day!
Time-dimmed benevolence
This makes me think of grainy photos of harmless-looking old men whom you then discover are former Nazi or other...
Tide-rippled sea
Nicolson's book is as much about the sea as the land, and the tidal pull it exerted for centuries on...
Honeyed hope
Sounds lovely, although Erasmus uses it to refer to the hare-brained gold, elixir or immortality quests of alchemists. One more...
Bright and brighter
The Trojan Hector goes on the attack with his beautiful horses, bright-maned, a complement to the bright-patterned shield of Odysseus.
...
Champagne-bottle shoulders
What a charming if old-fashioned sounding description of sloping beauty, in this case referring to voluptuous Europa. And 'callipygous' describes...
Broad-leaved sycamores and weary-hearted women
George Eliot writes sensitively and movingly of the early manifestation of Methodism. She wrote Adam Bede around 1850 but set...
Rain-thrashed pools
Gormenghast is made for storms and this one allows Steerpike to further insinuate himself into the life of the castle....
Faint-croaking frogs
Thoreau is notably patient in observing nature, able to stand still for half an hour or more, to let the...
Moss-gloved trees
Years of dripping rain from these moss-soft trees, in an endlessly dank, chill climate, has tanned the leather of a...
Deep-wooded creeks
An evocative image of deep-wooded creeks, especially when you imagine people bound for America, often forced to leave, looking upon...
Traffic-straddling gateway
Having just spent Easter in Aosta where there is an Augustan traffic-straddling gateway in the central roundabout, this image brought...
Of cornelian cherries
We often read of 'cherry-red' so I found it refreshing to find cherries described as resembling the red of cornelian,...
Fish-haunted seas
Loved this sense of ichthyo-abundance in seas now widely depleted of fish stocks. And the idea of a gift for...
Silver-plated water
I have seen beaten-bronze and copper-coloured water, but never silver-plated.
'The cool, placid, silver-plated water at even coolly awaits the...
Sweet-blooded natures
A description of the Reverend Irwine, whose sisters are elsewhere described as being entirely superfluous. He is the only person...
Like the pigeons in St Mark’s
An unusual way to capture ever-present memories, likening them to pigeons underfoot in the Piazza San Marco, cooing and strutting...
Beam-borne planks
A poetic description of an ancient and abandoned bell tower; somehow 'beam-borne' implies flying rather than static, and I liked...
Iron-braced door
A door to keep enemies at bay? Except perhaps Grendel who would have torn it off by the hinges.
Source: Seamus...
Kind-hearted termagant
Great word ‘termagant’, sadly underused and, referring as it does to bad-tempered women, no doubt politically unacceptable. Here it describes...
Variations on a theme of chaos and confusion
Luan, which can signify a rich spectrum of chaos, confusion, mess and hubbub, is wonderfully combined with several double characters.
...
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Interesting! Your triologisms remind me of the two-word kennings in Beowulf.