Literary notes about alpenglow (AI summary)
Writers frequently invoke the term to evoke both the ethereal beauty of a moment and the grandeur of nature’s touch. Often, alpenglow is portrayed as a luminous, almost divine phenomenon that transforms mountainous landscapes into living canvases—a radiant display that some authors see as a terrestrial manifestation of the divine ([1]), while others note its fleeting yet profound impact on the observer’s spirit ([2]). The imagery extends beyond the physical, as it is sometimes likened to delicate blushes on a face, suggesting a metaphor for transient beauty and emotional tenderness ([3]). In reflective passages, the term also serves as a bridge between the observable world and a higher, more enduring purpose, underscoring nature’s ineffable mystery ([4]).
- This was the alpenglow, to me one of the most impressive of all the terrestrial manifestations of God.
— from The Mountains of California by John Muir - On August 23, 1869, the evening Alpenglow was very fine, though it did not reach its maximum depth and splendour.
— from Fragments of Science: A Series of Detached Essays, Addresses, and Reviews. V. 1-2 by John Tyndall - There were fleeting blushes as rosy as the Alpenglow now tinging her pale cheek.
— from A Fascinating Traitor: An Anglo-Indian Story by Richard Savage - When those glossy domes swim into the alpenglow, wet after rain, you conceive how long and imperturbable are the purposes of God.
— from The Land of Little Rain by Mary Hunter Austin
