"In the eye of fancy, she perceived the gleam of arms through the duskiness of night, the glitter of spears and helmets, and the banners floating dimly on the twilight; while now and then the blast of a distant trumpet echoed along the defile, and the signal was answered by a momentary clash of arms."
— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson
Date
1794
Metaphor
"In the eye of fancy, she perceived the gleam of arms through the duskiness of night, the glitter of spears and helmets, and the banners floating dimly on the twilight; while now and then the blast of a distant trumpet echoed along the defile, and the signal was answered by a momentary clash of arms."
Metaphor in Context
Meanwhile the carriers, having come to a landing-place, stopped to rest, and the travellers being seated on the point of a cliff, Montoni and Cavigni renewed a dispute concerning Hannibal's passage over the Alps, Montoni contending that he entered Italy by way of Mount Cenis, and Cavigni, that he passed over Mount St Bernard. The subject brought to Emily's imagination the disasters he had suffered in this bold and perilous adventure. She saw his vast armies winding among the defiles, and over the tremendous cliffs of the mountains, which at night were lighted up by his fires, or by the torches which he caused to be carried when he pursued his indefatigable march. In the eye of fancy, she perceived the gleam of arms through the duskiness of night, the glitter of spears and helmets, and the banners floating dimly on the twilight; while now and then the blast of a distant trumpet echoed along the defile, and the signal was answered by a momentary clash of arms. She looked with horror upon the mountaineers, perched on the higher cliffs, assailing the troops below with broken fragments of the mountain; on soldiers and elephants tumbling headlong down the lower precipices; and, as she listened to the rebounding rocks, that followed their fall, the terrors of fancy yielded to those of reality, and she shuddered to behold herself on the dizzy height, whence she had pictured the descent of others.
(pp. 159-60 in Penguin)
(pp. 159-60 in Penguin)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
9 entries in ESTC (1794, 1795, 1799, 1800).
The Mysteries of Udolpho, a Romance; Interspersed with some Pieces of Poetry. By Ann Radcliffe, Author of the Romance of the Forest, etc. 4 vols. (London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, 1794). <Link to ECCO><Link to ECCO-TCP, Vol. I>
Reading The Mysteries of Udolpho, ed. Jacqueline Howard (New York: Penguin Books, 2001).
The Mysteries of Udolpho, a Romance; Interspersed with some Pieces of Poetry. By Ann Radcliffe, Author of the Romance of the Forest, etc. 4 vols. (London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, 1794). <Link to ECCO><Link to ECCO-TCP, Vol. I>
Reading The Mysteries of Udolpho, ed. Jacqueline Howard (New York: Penguin Books, 2001).
Date of Entry
03/06/2014
