GoodTaste
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- Joined
- Feb 19, 2016
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- Student or Learner
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- Chinese
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I don't understand the use of "as" here. Does it mean "as if"?
By the way, is the passage beautiful, graceful English? Expressions like "the moon swam like a swan", "unleashed an arrow of my desire into the midnight and it took fire overhead, burned its way like a meteor into the north" and "arrowed our destination, and crystalline voices from lakes" sound peculiarly romantic.
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"Riding, riding, through the wild, weird ways that led to Avalon, we went, Ganelon and I, down alleys of dream and of nightmare, beneath the brass bark of the sun and the hot, white isles of night, till these were gold and diamond chips and the moon swam like a swan. Day belled forth the green of spring, we crossed a mighty river and the mountains before as were frosted by night. I unleashed an arrow of my desire into the midnight and it took fire overhead, burned its way like a meteor into the north. The only dragon we encountered was lame and limped away quickly to hide, singeing daisies as it panted and wheezed. Migrations of bright birds arrowed our destination, and crystalline voices from lakes echoed our words as we passed. I sang as we rode, and after a time, Ganelon joined me. We had been traveling for over a week, and the land and the sky and the breezes told me we were near to Avalon now. We camped in a wood near a lake as the sun slid behind stone and the day died down and ceased."
Source: The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny
By the way, is the passage beautiful, graceful English? Expressions like "the moon swam like a swan", "unleashed an arrow of my desire into the midnight and it took fire overhead, burned its way like a meteor into the north" and "arrowed our destination, and crystalline voices from lakes" sound peculiarly romantic.
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"Riding, riding, through the wild, weird ways that led to Avalon, we went, Ganelon and I, down alleys of dream and of nightmare, beneath the brass bark of the sun and the hot, white isles of night, till these were gold and diamond chips and the moon swam like a swan. Day belled forth the green of spring, we crossed a mighty river and the mountains before as were frosted by night. I unleashed an arrow of my desire into the midnight and it took fire overhead, burned its way like a meteor into the north. The only dragon we encountered was lame and limped away quickly to hide, singeing daisies as it panted and wheezed. Migrations of bright birds arrowed our destination, and crystalline voices from lakes echoed our words as we passed. I sang as we rode, and after a time, Ganelon joined me. We had been traveling for over a week, and the land and the sky and the breezes told me we were near to Avalon now. We camped in a wood near a lake as the sun slid behind stone and the day died down and ceased."
Source: The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny
