Dear Alastair
I just thought I'd pass on some thoughts from an idle moment of "googling".
There is an Angel of Twilight in Rabbinic lore, but little is known about
him/her other than at times he/she has been associated with the Greek
goddess Nox/Nyx, the latter often being portayed as having wings and driving
a chariot as she brought the night down across the sky.
This does, however, seem a little obscure even for Kipling.
The meaning of "drove like the devil" would seem to make much more sense.
However, it puzzled me that Kipling would refer to Lucifer as the Archangel
of Twilight when I presume that it would have been commonly known that
Lucifer is Latin for morning star, and hence known by some as Archangel of
the Dawn -- the reference being to the fact that once the sun rises (God),
the light of the morning star (Lucifer) is obliterated.
But then it dawned on me (forgive the pun) that even though we commonly
equate twilight with evening, twilight is the time the sun is just below the
horizon and this occurs at sunrise and sunset. The distinct names of each
period of twilight are in fact dawn and dusk. This entry in Wikipedia
confirms this nicely:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight
So I think this strengthens what George has suggested, and "drove like the
devil" is what Kipling intended.
cheers
Geoffrey Maloney
Brisbane
Australia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alastair Wilson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 7:59 PM
Subject: Re: The Archangel of the Twilight
> Dear George,
> Thank you for the thought, and for your possible solution, which I
> agree is the most likely meaning.
> My note will read:
> Archangels feature in the theology of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim
> faiths. In the Christian faith there are seven well-known Archangels, and
> five lesser ones. None of them, it would seem, is specifically associated
> with twilight. In English literature, it may be suggested that 'Paradise
> Lost', John Milton's epic poem (written between 1658 and 1667), contains
> the best-known references to the Archangels.
>
> In Book 1, Satan (a fallen archangel who had rebelled against
> God) is described as follows:
>
> "His form had yet not lost
> All her original brightness, nor appeared
> Less than Archangel ruined, and th' excess
> Of glory obscured: as when the sun new-risen
> Looks through the horizontal misty air
> Shorn of his beams, or, from behind the moon,
> In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
> On half the nations, and with fear of change
> Perplexes monarchs."
>
> It would thus seem that Satan may be the archangel referred to,
> and the phrase may be interpreted as "drove like the devil".
>
> (Our thanks to George Simmer who provided the reference and
> suggested interpretation.)
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George Simmers" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "Alastair Wilson" <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 12:56 AM
> Subject: Re: The Archangel of the Twilight
>
>
>>
>> In Paradise Lost, Book 1 Satan is described thus:
>>
>> His form had yet not lost
>> All her original brightness, nor appeared
>> Less than Archangel ruined, and th' excess
>> Of glory obscured: as when the sun new-risen
>> Looks through the horizontal misty air
>> Shorn of his beams, or, from behind the moon,
>> In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
>> On half the nations, and with fear of change
>> Perplexes monarchs.
>>
>> So could the phrase mean "drove like the devil"/
>>
>> Just a possibility.
>>
>> George
>>
>> Alastair Wilson wrote:
>>> Can any one provide a reference, please?
>>> In 'Steam Tactics' (p. 207, line 6) the Kipling-narrator says of Kysh
>>> that "he drove like the Archangel of the Twilight" The Old Reader's
>>> Guide has a heading for the quote, but no explanation.
>>> Is there a specific reference? Is it, perhaps, from 'Paradise Lost'
>>> (which I 'did' for School Certificate more than half-a-century ago)? Did
>>> this Archangel have any particular characteristic - and what was his
>>> name?
>>> All help gratefully received
>>> /Alastair Wilson/
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>> --
>> Snakeskin Poetry Webzine is at
>> http://www.snakeskin.org.uk
>>
>>
>
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