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!
Ash-covered Vulcan
Lady Folly blithely explains why it is better to be merry Bacchus (or Dionysius) than any of the more serious...
Frayed by sin
A surprising one, this, as sin is often presented, nowadays, as socially acceptable, even desirable 'vice' - something naughty-but-nice, essentially...
Accordian-like adjustment
An obvious though unusual and simple metaphor for a flexible adaptation to things.
Source: Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams, p. 213
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Here comes Hera
One goddess you should never cross, quick to rouse to wrath and terrible in her exactions. Divinely, drop-dead gorgeous, of course.
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Scum-skinned tide
Something alarmingly contemporary about this polluted surface in Dante's Inferno, especially when he discerns, through the miasma, dead souls fleeing.
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Wind-besieged islands
The North Sea is full of such islands and Nicolson finds in a place of 'sun-trap warmth', sheltered from the...
Kind-hearted termagant
Great word ‘termagant’, sadly underused and, referring as it does to bad-tempered women, no doubt politically unacceptable. Here it describes...
Iris-blue sky
When I think of such a sky, I think of Greece.
'The following morning, the weather had changed...
Demon-king entrance
This sounded like something out of a classical Chinese opera until I realized it was describing my forebears. Don't worry,...
Tear-wringing phrases
Can you sense in this triologism that the moving eloquence of this politician is a little too practised and contrived?...
Ballooning abdomen
Flay and Swelter, pitched in a life and death struggle, are at physically opposite extremes - Flay, wiry, knobbly, skinny,...
Purple-streaked stems
I never knew that hemlock grew alongside English fields,
Of purple hue, it poisons you, and life to death it...
Wind-coiffed heads
I liked this description of the sea in front of the boat looking like a crowd viewed from behind with...
Dungeon-like gloom
This gloom was no doubt accentuated by the blinding brilliance outside, and may even have been a soothing balm to...
Bun-faced man
Bland and bun-faced isn't a winning combination, even before he imposes his cricket-talk on people who don't share his enthusiasm.
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Pink of old roses
Musty pink makes me think of an old breed of faded rose, or a soft-worn damask, or one of the...
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