Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[tisogai]

Please explain the two underlined sentences from "The moonspinners".

- ...So here I was, with an extra day, in the middle of this wild and lonely country. Behind me the land rose steeply, rocky, silver-green, silver-brown, silver-purple. Below the road, towards the sea, the land was greener. Over the hot, white rock little trees lifted their clouds of sweet-smelling purple flowers.

Thanks so much.

[redset]

The first sentence just describes the land behind the narrator - the land rises steeply (gets higher quickly), it's rocky and it contains lots of silvery colours. The second sentence is about the land closer to the sea - there's hot white rock, and there are small trees covered with purple flowers, which are so numerous that they seem like purple clouds.

Which part are you having difficulty with?

[tisogai]

Thanks. I almost got it.

I don't really understand the word "lifted" in this context. Can you give me some different word can be used instead??

Does it mean that rocks look silverish because they shine in the sun or something??

Thanks again.

[suesummers]

You can use 'raised'.
_________________
Centennial College Rocks!

[pugachevV]

It's from Moonspinners.
Moonlight bathes everything in a silvery light.

[tisogai]

Thank you very much for the help.

Yes, it's "The Moonspinners" by Mary Stewart.
But in this part, it has nothing to do with moonlight because it's daytime.

[pugachevV]

In that case, I guess some sort of atmospheric, or lighting condition was causing it. Perhaps there is some context before or after the quoted passage?

[redset]

Rose and lifted are used poetically here - the ground isn't literally rising up like a volcanic eruption, the author is saying that if you walked back in that direction, you would be walking up a steep hill with each step taking you to higher ground. It's the same with the trees 'lifting' the flowers - when you lift something you raise it higher in the air, and the author is saying that the trees look like they're holding the flowers up above the rocks.

As for the silver colours, looks like none of us are sure! All we can tell is that the land behind the narrator is rocky, and that the colours mentioned are visible. One thing though - the author says silver-green, silver-brown and silver-purple, which implies the green, brown and purple all look silvery and that the silver colour isn't separate. Because the author mentions the rockiness, I'd probably guess that the land is covered with green, brown and purple areas (like green plants, brown earth and purple heather) but that the rocks strewn everywhere give those areas a silver tinge. Some rocks have metal in them, which could look like silver, or maybe the bright sunlight makes them seem shiny.

[tisogai]

Hello Redset,

Your explanation totally makes sense to me.
Big help it is. Thanks so much.