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Jul 9, 2015 02:00
8 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term

scything in and up

Non-PRO English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
"I...approaching the window cautiously. I could see feather fluff and guano; then, tucked in tight to the retaining tiles, a clutch of three eggs, brickred and black flecked. And suddenly I stepped back, because she was there also, SCYTHING IN AND UP to the edge of the ledge and perching, the feathers of her piebald breast rippled by the wind, her yellow feet gripping the ledge, the ridged knuckles tense, and big with muscle..."
The above is excerpted for Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane (the Link: https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=Af8aBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT124&l...

The context is that "I" went to see a peregrines' nest found on the ledge high on the library tower, and "she" refers to the female bird.
As to "scything in and up", I'm not sure whether it means that She flew back, swayed forward and backward, and perched on the ledge, or that She, being there from the beginning, stabbed her beak toward "me", or somethine else. Thank you!!
Responses
3 +3 arriving at the nest fast, from below, cutting the air like a scythe
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (1): B D Finch

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Discussion

updownK (asker) Jul 10, 2015:
@Danik 2014 I think you're right.
updownK (asker) Jul 9, 2015:
Sorry, I forget to change the setting to PRO.

Responses

+3
5 hrs
Selected

arriving at the nest fast, from below, cutting the air like a scythe

I know it says "she was there also", but I tend to think that is a way of expressing the fact that the mother arrived very quickly. (one moment nothing, the next moment she was there). The picture the phrase evokes for me is that she arrives from below (the nest is at the top of a tower) so UP, and IN, because she is approaching the nest, coming IN towards it.
Peer comment(s):
agree Yvonne Gallagher : swooping in to the nest, cutting the air like a scythe. I think anything that evokes swift movement is fine. "from below" over-interpretation//hmm, it's up to ledge and scything is a parallel action, not one from below
38 mins
Thanks Gallagy :-) but I do think that "from below" is justified by "up" - she flies up to the top of the tower
agree B D Finch : "From below" seems like a simple rephrasing of "up", not over-interpretation. Also, scything evokes widespread wings.
2 hrs
Thanks BD :-) Good point concerning the wings
agree Sheri P
3 hrs
Thanks Sheri
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Many thanks! What you imagined are very lively, helping me playback the pictures in my mind smoothly."
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