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!

Siegfried-haunted Drachenfels

An image from a Caspar David Friedrich painting.

'The country sped downstream at a great pace and the Siebengebirge and...

Bronze-armoured Achaians

The Trojan war was a Bronze Age affair, magnificently evoked in different sea-surrounded places by two books of Adam Nicolson....

Fairy-like fingers

Mr. Rochester falls in love with Jane: her excellent mind and independent spirit, as well as her petite proportions, here...

Flat-boughed cedar

A favourite tree - I remember the first one I consciously noticed, said to be 1,000 years old, some of...

Beware the Idomeneus spear

Famed with good reason - see his bringing another warrior to meet his 'dark-named destiny'. However, the most graphic...

Grey-hued sword

This feels a big and ancient sword that might be swung with both hands, not a slimline rapier or epée....

Wide-cheeked monster

Orlando accompanies his beloved Sasha back to the Muscovite ship, and soon loses her below deck. When searching for her,...

Sun-hot boulder

You can see the lamb snuggling up against the warm stone radiator. And on these sultry days of August, many...

Many-legended island

Are those legends still alive or did they die with the war, or with the people who told them? And...

Pepper-pot turrets

The description of these towers and turrets in the village of Kardamyli, which are a match for the mine's-bigger-than-yours competition...

Tangled tales

The rose garden of Moonacre has an arbour and heart-shaped rose-beds. And if that sounds a little over top, wait...

Pattern-working chaplain

Thoreau isn't a big fan of chaplains and other purveyors of religion and here he takes a swipe at three...

Heron-like paces

I love the idea of a human walk embodying the fastidious strut of the heron's dainty stride.

'He strode to...

Reed-fringed spinney

Many years since I heard the word 'spinney'. I remember it as a secret, hidden spot in the local park...

Hollowed-out pineapples

Having had refreshing cool drinks out of hollowed-out coconuts, I like hearing of the equivalent in pineapples, and of course,...

How to write a paper

Heaney’s introduction to his translation of Beowulf praises Tolkien’s ‘epoch-making paper’, a lecture delivered in 1936 entitled ‘Beowulf: The Monsters...