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!
Frayed by sin
A surprising one, this, as sin is often presented, nowadays, as socially acceptable, even desirable 'vice' - something naughty-but-nice, essentially...
Vapour-ringed sun
I recall seeing more vapour-ringed moons than suns, but it may be that I look at the moon more than...
Keen-eyed man
A fine description of Adam Bede's fine eyes and keen mind. As for Hetty, nowadays she'd be branded a teaser. ...
Steel-blue plumes, gleams and feathers
Orlando has a love of beautiful feathers fallen from passing birds, as do I. She seems to be particularly partial...
Slow-travelling Clouds
Dorothy Wordsworth is masterful and joyful in her description of detailed beauty, and it seems many of her journal entries...
Of ships, boats, and prows
On a warmly, windy day, perfect for summer sailing, bringing you a trio of triologisms with a maritime theme: 'wood-wreathed...
Wine-drenched blubber
Swelter, the chef, is vast and rolling excess to Flay's ascetic skinniness, and here presents himself in a stupor. The...
Troy-bound villagers
In this triologism, Leigh Fermor effortlessly conveys the millennia-spanning history of an obscure village, implying that its inhabitants might be...
Fine wrought and strong wheeled
I happen to love fine descriptions of things well crafted, chariots, ships, bridges, tables, pots...
Particularly striking is the first...
Yataghan-wielding chieftains
At least when Leigh Fermor first travelled to Mani in the Peloponnese, its inhabitants had a fearsome reputation among Greeks,...
Traffic-straddling gateway
Having just spent Easter in Aosta where there is an Augustan traffic-straddling gateway in the central roundabout, this image brought...
Hoar-rimed trees
A crisp and unusual description of a Russian winter day in its chill beauty.
'White winter had set...
An opiate vista
A curious vista of 'tallow-coloured' images floating before an opium-steeped lord.
'Laudanum' was the name for various opium-based preparations and...
Body-gulping Charybdis
If ever there was an argument for steering a middle course, it is the horrific pair of sailor slayers, Scylla...
Rose-coloured ribbon
This is the moment when Hetty shifts from recollection to projection, from dwelling upon random past encounters with the smooth-handed...
Good-tempered ears
Describing an idyllic ride on a wonderful horse. I wish you many moments, and even days and weeks, of which...
Cool-scrubbed tavern
And where else to flee from the sun that makes lilies fester, than a cool-scrubbed tavern? I imagine a bright...
Light-laden drops
When did you last stop to study a light-laden drop of water, seeing in it a convex-reflected cosmos? You have,...
Hag-ridden night
A sense of a wakeful, traumatic night, ridden by witches and haunted by demons.
'... explains the distress of that...
Seneca the Stoic
Erasmus' triologism to describe Seneca as a dyed in the wool Stoic. I prefer the alliteration of 'double-dyed'.
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