23 January 04

Rosy-Fingered Dawn

walnuttree.jpgHomer’s repeated rosy-fingered dawns break lots of rules outlined in a list of ten mistakes often made by writers (via Hoarded Ordinaries and Burningbird), but I think Homer had different rules, and aren’t we glad he did?

I woke this morning to a thick tule fog which turned pink as the sun, somewhere out there in the east, rose. I tried to draw the tree outside our kitchen window with my walnut ink. I have altered the hue on the drawing to approximate the hue I saw: it was completely monochrome, just different levels of saturation.

Posted by at 06:37 AM in Design Arts | Link |
  1. Ooooh, I love Homer even more now that you’ve encouraged me to see him as a Rebellious Rule Breaker! I’d never dream of tagging “rosy fingered dawn” a crutch term. The conventions of oral poetry aside, that description is perfect: in the hands of a master, the rules melt like butter.

    I love the drawing. When I first saw it, I stared for a moment or two trying to decide if it was a painting or a weirdly altered (by fog, etc) sepia-toned photo. Either way, it’s wonderfully evocative, like a Chinese landscape scroll. Thank you.

    — Lorianne    24. January 2004, 02:44    Link
  2. I wish I could see this photo bigger . . .

    — Lin B    24. January 2004, 06:51    Link
  3. Ah, what a lovely image, the tree blooming as it is leafless, out of the pink swirl of the tule fog. I love the calming effects of tule fog … provided I don’t have to drive anywhere in it.

    — maria    24. January 2004, 09:56    Link
  4. Great image – one question: What is a “tule” fog?

    — Jenny    24. January 2004, 12:57    Link
  5. I just re-read this and realized you said “drawing”, not “photo”.

    Haunting and textural, yet simple as well. Very nice.

    — ntexas99    24. January 2004, 15:14    Link
  6. Jenny: “tule” (pronounced tew-lee) is a form of reed that grows in the great flood plain that is the Central Valley of California. We have tule elk and the (in)famous tule fog, which is highly local and can hit all of a sudden (Friday’s weather forecasters in Sacramento described the visibility as “zero”). I didn’t have to drive, thank goodness, but I DID have to get on my bike, and was sure to wear bright yellow.

    — Pica    24. January 2004, 17:39    Link
  7. Tule – a new word for me too. I thought you meant but had misspelled tulle (“a fine, often starched net of silk, rayon, or nylon, used especially for veils, tutus, or gowns”).

    — Lin B    25. January 2004, 03:30    Link
  8. I concur about the drawing. Re: Homer vs. the rules, I did read that list of rules and thought it was fine – for prose. The whole point of writing poetry, however (setting aside the whole question of oral composition) is inventing one’s own rules!


    — Dave    25. January 2004, 14:33    Link

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