GR translation: with edges fine and combed as rain

[David Morris]

Combed implies precision, tidiness and goes with "fine edges."  But the
image of the houses and mountains are called "strangely blurred," the
opposite of fine edges.  So the "as rain" qualifier to "edges fine and
combed" means it is NOT fine edged and combed.


On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 12:32 PM, Mike Jing
<gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>wrote:

> Interesting.  In that case, "combed" would simply mean "straightened with
> a comb" then, is that correct?
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 11:26 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I believe the phrase "with edges fine and combed as rain" is a figure of
>> speech meaning the visible edges of the mountains and home reflected in the
>> are **anything but** "fine and combed."  They "remain strangelt blurred.
>>
>> I don't know the term for this kind of figure of speech, but it is akin
>> to the phrase "smart as a box of rocks."
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 8:58 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> P272.29-36   The city below him, bathed now in a partial light, is a
>>> necropolis of church spires and weathercocks, white castle-keep towers,
>>> broad buildings with mansard roofs and windows glimmering by thousands.
>>> This forenoon the mountains are as translucent as ice. Later in the day
>>> they will be blue heaps of wrinkled satin. The lake is mirror-smooth but
>>> mountains and houses reflected down there remain strangely blurred, with
>>> edges fine and combed as rain: a dream of Atlantis, of the Suggenthal. Toy
>>> villages, desolate city of painted alabaster. . . .
>>>
>>> What does "combed" mean here?
>>>
>>
>>
>
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