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AskAndAnswer Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
a dilemma
In this example:
At her brave words swift winds arose,
And ‘round her on they wildly spiraled.
on and on = continuously.
I'm trying to say that the winds wildly spiraled around her, on and on. Does it make sense in my sentence to merge "round her" and "on", or does "on" assume a confused meaning?
I could say:
At her brave words swift winds arose,
And on and on they wildly spiraled.
But I kind of like "around her" as long as the meaning is clear.
At her brave words swift winds arose,
And ‘round her on they wildly spiraled.
on and on = continuously.
I'm trying to say that the winds wildly spiraled around her, on and on. Does it make sense in my sentence to merge "round her" and "on", or does "on" assume a confused meaning?
I could say:
At her brave words swift winds arose,
And on and on they wildly spiraled.
But I kind of like "around her" as long as the meaning is clear.
Top answer
I don't have a problem with it. I understood it at first reading. That sort of strained inversion is commonplace in flowery poetry, and that is a plain meaning of "on", "continuously", even without the second one.
- I don't have a problem with it.
- I understood it at first reading.
- That sort of strained inversion is commonplace in flowery poetry, and that is a plain meaning of "on", "continuously", even without the second one.
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3 Answers
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I don't have a problem with it. I understood it at first reading. That sort of strained inversion is commonplace in flowery poetry, and that is a plain meaning of "on", "continuously", even without the second one.
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To me, on does not fit. But then does.
At her brave words swift winds arose,
And ‘round her then they wildly spiraled.
At her brave words swift winds arose,
And ‘round her then they wildly spiraled.
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