Is "she" okay?

Question

Hi! Could somebody, please take look at this sentence and point out any neccesary corrections? And is underlined "she" okay when talking about the sun?

In the morning very quietly, as if she wishes not to disturb the whole world which still sleeps, the flashing sun rises.

Thanks a lot!

Clive · Accepted Answer

'She' is OK if you want to sound poetical.

'Flashing' is not incorrect grammar, but I'm not sure I would describe the sun as 'flashing'.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Clive I'm not sure I would describe the sun as 'flashing'.

I wouldn't. Some stars flash - pulsars at a very high rate, and pulsating red giants at a very low rate.
Thank goodness that our sun is a steady burner. It glows and burns with a constant intensity. Otherwise, we'd be fried.

Clive · Answer

Well, there can be some odd atmospherical effects.
And I suppose 'flashing' might be used poetically.

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymousflashing

glowing or radiant are better.

As a poem:

In the morning
Very quietly
So as not to disturb the sleeping world
There rises
The radiant sun.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Everybody - thank you a lot!

Fivejedjon · Answer

AnonymousIn the morning very quietly, as if she wishes not to disturb the whole world which still sleeps, the flashing sun rises.

The sun is generally thought of as masculine in English. It's the moon that's feminine.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

CliveWell, there can be some odd atmospherical effects.

Yes, like the famous green flash, but that is a one-time flash per occurrence, not continuous.

CalifJim · Answer

fivejedjonThe sun is generally thought of as masculine in English. It's the moon that's feminine.

I had never heard this, and it's all the more remarkable, if true, because both 'sun' and 'moon' are have cognates in German, where die Sonne is feminine in gender, and der Mond is masculine.

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

CalifJimI had never heard this, and it's all the more remarkable,

"The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright —
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.
The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done —
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun."
------------------------------------------
Shakespeare regularly referred to the moon as "she" and the sun as "he."

CalifJim · Answer

AlpheccaStars... the moon as "she" and the sun as "he."

Hmm. I'm still wondering how that came about from Sonne and Mond.

Or if it has nothing to do with the original gender of the words, is there absolutely no example in history of the sun as "she" nor of the moon as "he"? (Rhetorical question. I don't expect anybody to research this.) I half-suspect that there might have been a time in English literature where each poet has his own system of gendering inanimates and that, taken as a whole, it was arbitrary and random, and that later it became more standardized. All guesses, of course.

CJ

Is "she" okay?

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