This photograph hardly could be called an illustration of "rosy-fingered dawn" other than as a symbolic gesture. In reality, it was closer to a sunset photograph than to a sunrise photograph. It was taken at 8:03 p.m. on September 4, 2012, on the Dakota side of the Missouri River with Nebraska "across the river and into the" prairies where storm clouds were gathering. But, autumn and near-autumn are pretty much the same year-in and year-out, so it serves my purposes here.
The "Old Greek" Homer used "rosy-fingered" a number of times in, "The Odyssey," to describe the arrival of dawn. I seem to remember he used it in, "The Iliad," as well, but I have read that book only once and cannot recall with complete certainty. It is one of those descriptive phrases I absolutely love. I gather the technical name for such expressions is a "formulaic element" in "repeated epithets." From my point of view, it simply is an elegant way of wording a beautiful sunrise.
The "Old Greek" Homer used "rosy-fingered" a number of times in, "The Odyssey," to describe the arrival of dawn. I seem to remember he used it in, "The Iliad," as well, but I have read that book only once and cannot recall with complete certainty. It is one of those descriptive phrases I absolutely love. I gather the technical name for such expressions is a "formulaic element" in "repeated epithets." From my point of view, it simply is an elegant way of wording a beautiful sunrise.
Remark
by Jesse Stone
portrayed
by Tom Selleck
in
the television film
"Jesse
Stone: Sea Change"
You know .... you live long
enough, you have regrets. And the ones that nag at you the most are the ones
where you knew you had a choice, the ones where you knew you could have stopped
yourself, the ones where you looked into the mirror and everything good inside
you said, "Don't do this."
Memories
of "rosy-fingered dawn"
When
I was a boy and autumn arrived, I lived for football and for hunting .... up to a
certain point, that is .... that point being when I began to notice young ladies.
Waterfowl hunting was the primary season in southern Minnesota where I lived.
Ducks and geese were my favorite quarry. They continue to be my favorite birds, although I no longer hunt them.
Although
I have not been a hunter for a number of years, experiencing the beauty of sunrises and sunsets over open water when hunting seasons began and over frozen water in the days before they ended .... of sensing a brisk, chilling breeze on my face .... of seeing the seasons changing as summer slid into autumn and, at times, of feeling the hammer-blow-like arrival of frigid temperatures and snow and ice .... those things and more were pure joy to know. The memories of those days -- of those experiences -- still are fresh in my mind.
I
remember how the colors of the plant life changed from green to brown as the
days progressed. I vividly recall how cattails extended a few feet over my head while wading
blindly in a slough during the early days of the hunting seasons, but had become
crushed and broken to leave distinct trails before the final day arrived.
There
is no reason an individual has to be a hunter to enjoy Nature and to absorb it
into his system, but because I was a boy who was a hunter I did experience
those things then and have memories of them now and I am grateful life was that
way for me.
The
most alluring vision of all to me, in the words of the "Old Greek" Homer, was
the arrival of the sun over the rippling, blue waters of the lake:
"Then when rosy-fingered dawn came, bright and early ...."
8 comments:
Very beautiful photo Fram!
I have never heard of that poem but know i know The Odyssey,by Homer!
I wonder what he wants us to think about this poem
Again Nightwish!!And with Tarja and Flor same piece of music--Yes I still belive and think Tarjas is the best one,,Flor can not go so deep as Tarja with her voice ..they both are sopranos yes-- but I think she developed her voice at that time Tarja to change high and deep..
Anita
Yes, the photograph is beautiful ....
I think my infatuation with Nightwish and its singers is nearing an end. I have listened to other songs in which Tarja Turunen and Floor Jansen sing the same song, sometimes even while standing side-by-side, with or without Nightwish. One day, I prefer Tarja; the next day, I prefer Floor. I will not try to explain it, but I think I like them both equally for different reasons .... such is life ....
All right, Anita. Imagine a world without radio or television or even newspapers. This was the world in which the "old Greeks" existed:
Troy is believed to have fallen around 1184 BC. "The Iliad," is a long, meandering epic poem which is the final chapter in the story of two major Bronze Age Greek alliances battling each other. It ends when the Achaeans, people mainly from what is now Greece, sack Troy/Ilium, located in modern day Turkey.
"The Odyssey," in contrast, mainly takes place outside of those cultures and focuses on Odysseus and his family's struggle to recover from the Trojan War's after effects and, primarily, with the struggle of Odysseus to make it back home.
These tales were not written down until 800-700 BC, so although they are based on vaguely real historical events and actual historical characters, they are events that transpired hundreds of years before Homer even walked the surface of the Earth; they are history that has morphed into mythology. We can assume that these stories are a compilation of various oral tales and that much of the narration describes what Greek life and warfare was like in 750 BC, not 1184 BC.
You see? No history books, no newspapers -- nothing other than oral storytelling of tales finally written down after four or five hundred years and attributed to a guy named Homer. Who can say what is real and what is not real? But, it is nice to think about and to imagine, and there certainly is truth mixed in among the stories.
I am not certain what Homer thinks or thought, but I think he is a very fortunate individual to have been at the right place at the right time, and he probably will have his name last virtually forever.
And, I think I am a very fortunate individual to have a young lady named Anita in Bergen, Norway, who keeps me company .... thank you ....
That is true that the longer you live the more regrets you have. My biggest regrets are about waisting time on insignificant things, not being able to say "no" to things I like and "yes" to things that matter.
Fram, it's interesting that you lived for football and hunting. In one week hunting season will start where I live. Before I didn't care about it, just tried not go into mountains. Right now I don't want the ducks and geese to be killed.
Your memories are beautiful and vivid. You felt things, you observed them and because you were a hunter. You can feel nature and see many things. That is inside you, it's given or not. You have this gift, Fram.
I like very much photograph! It magical! I also enjoyed listening to Nightwish. Never heard before about this group.
Take good care of yourself, Fram.
The photograph was largely a matter of luck -- being in the right place at the right time with a camera while watching the rolling thunder storm clouds approaching Dakota from Nebraska. I took five shots and I like the way this one turned out the best.
Among my regrets are the birds and the animals I killed as a young hunter, although I would not trade the experiences of the hunts and what I learned through them for any amount of money. Standing on your feet for hours waist-deep in water among the rushes in a slough was not enjoyable except for being able to watch any number of birds and animals in their natural habitat; crawling on your belly for a mile across a plowed, muddy field during rain trying to get in range of a flock of geese was agonizing in some ways, but wonderful in other ways, and I doubt I could have used the time any better.
If you never had left your homeland, Kaya, you probably would be well acquainted with Nightwish. The band's origin is just a hop, a skip, a jump and a swim away from Lithuania across the Baltic Sea. I enjoy the band and its singers.
Yes, Kaya. I am a pretty careful guy. You, too, take good care of yourself and thank you, for coming here and for commenting here. I really enjoy your presence ....
Picture shows the marvelous beauty of nature.
Memories are good for traveling to the past.
You have good memories of forest and nature.
I spent my childhood in the countryside in the middle of nature.
I remember when the father hunted birds and rabbits.
Catches were an important diet because we lived in a natural way.
We did not buy anything other than salt, sugar and flour.
Nowadays hunting is not important and not necessary.
As you live in the city, it is easy to buy varied meals from the store.
Nightwist, Tarja's strong emotional interpretation seems to me deeper.
Beautiful music track.
Yes, Liplatus, there is much beauty and, in a way, much mystery in Nature. It is rare, at least in mid-America, to see clouds such as those in the higher level and I cannot recall ever seeing two such distinctly differing groups of clouds together other than this one time. They seem to me to be battling for dominance of the sky.
I always have tried to use my own life -- the choices I have made, the things that I have done, the beliefs that I hold and the results of these decisions, whether good or bad, as illustrations for others to possibly learn from and to perhaps help them choose their own paths as they walk through their own lives. In terms of hunting, I do regret the birds and the animals I have killed, but not the experiences and the lessons I learned from hunting them. I like to think of them as my teachers.
Since you grew up close to Nature, Liplatus, I think you must have as strong an appreciation for it as I do -- or even stronger. There have been times during my life when I have lived in the center of a metropolis and enjoyed the experience, both here in the United States and in Europe, but there is nowhere I feel quite so much at home and tranquil as I do in the midst of a wilderness a few hundred miles from civilization.
You are right when you point out that there really is no need for hunting in much of the world at this point in history, and there was not when I was a boy, either. But, most of what I shot was consumed by my grandparents and my parents and me. My grandparents, in particular, had grown up more-or-less living off the land and relished the taste of wild duck and pheasant. My hunting, essentially, was the only way they could enjoy wild game feasts.
I have been toying with the idea of writing an anti-hunting post. I have not done so because hunters are the primary protectors of Second Amendment rights in this country. The Second Amendment is the constitutional right to own and to bear firearms, and guns are of paramount importance to me. I guess if I write such a piece, I will have to choose my words carefully.
I think it is beauty of voice and emotions which mostly draw me to Tarja; I think it is stage presence and mannerisms and her smile which captivate me about Floor. Anyway, between the two of them and the musicians, I will listen to Nightwish as long as there is a Nightwish.
Thank you, Liplatus, for coming and for writing your thoughts here. I think you must be a remarkable individual and I greatly appreciate your presence ....
A imagem é deslumbrante Fram, me parece uma imagem de sol se pondo Um colorido bonito os desenhos. Tem fotografia de sol que às vezes confunde se esta nascendo ou se pondo. Eu gosto de observar os desenhos no céu, se observar os mínimos detalhes nas nuvens a gente encontra muitos desenhos curiosos. Também gosto de observar um "nascer" ou no "pôr-do-sol" sobre a água, seja rio, lago, mar, é uma visão fascinante.
"Sleeping Sunb" é uma das música que gosto de Nightwish. Não ouço muita musica mais acho que ela canta é muito.
Obrigada pela presença lá no blog!
Um ótimo final de semana pra você.
Até mais com sorrisos.
The most sunrises and sunsets I ever have watched took place when I was a boy and a hunter. Almost always I saw these events over open water and which, when billowy clouds were present, often provided a sight I would not hesitate to describe as majestic. The colors created on the clouds in this near-sunset photograph I think of as Mediterranean-like because they are near-identical to those often seen in paintings by Italian artists and other Late Medieval Period masters.
"Sleeping Sun," is one of my favorite Nightwish songs, but my absolute preferred piece is, "Ghost Love Score." I like Floor Jansen's rendition of it best, but I have found a few covers of it and I think I can safely say it is the song itself rather than an individual voice which draws me the most to it. In fact, I listened to a collaboration version of it a few days ago in which the singer was a young lady from Brazil named Juliana Furlani. I enjoyed the group's version and I liked Furlani's voice, and I have been thinking about using it to accompany a post.
Thank you, Smareis, for your visit and for your words. I am very happy that you found your way back here. I hope your weekend will be all you would desire it to be .... and, I hope you will take a moment to wish a "Happy Birthday" to the U.S. Marine Corps ....
Semper Fi, Smareis ....
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