vv2 Earth on a string (35.26)

[jbor]

>"If you look from the side at a planet swinging around in its orbit, split
>the sun with a mirror and imagine a string, it all looks like a yo-yo."

I think this might be one of those paragraphs which can be ascribed to a
detached, possibly authorial, narrative agency. And it seems to me that,
irregardless of the scale, the position of the observer is unspecified --
except for the vague prepositional phrase "from the side" -- regarding
*both* images in the metaphor, and so visualisation (and interpretation) of
this planet (or sun)-as-yoyo diorama remains forever problematic. And,
further, in terms of the solar orbit image, scale is surely an, if not the,
important factor, for who, apart from some cosmic divinity or space
traveler, could actually "look ... at" (as opposed to "imagine", perhaps)
such a spectacle? I really think the reader is being alerted to problems of
perspective, scale, progression in time and space, and so forth, and that
the fallacy of single, purportedly "objective" and authoritative (and thus
"correct") interpretations is announced with this conceit. And, in many
respects it is a conceit which is very much reminiscent of (and perhaps even
a *parody* of) William Blake's 'Ancient of Days':

http://members.aa.net/~urizen/pageart/ancient.jpg

It reminds me of John Donne's famous conceit with the compass in the last
five or so stanzas of 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning' also:

http://www.bartleby.com/105/13.html

Both referents seem to be contextually relevant, potentially so at least.
There is an interesting essay on spatial conception in Donne's poetry here,
for anyone who's interested:

http://www.shu.ac.uk/emls/04-2/gortjohn.htm

best