Halcyon
The fun of writing this newsletter is in the odd convergences of interests and explorations that occur while researching different words and phrases. This week's phrase, halcyon days, turns out to be an intersection of three separate interests I had no idea would ever merge: 18th-century watercolor illustrations, the etymology of odd words and phrases, and, of course, punk rock. Follow me down the rabbit hole if you will.
The Story of Alcyone and Ceyx
Alcyone and her husband Ceyx spent their days on the shores of the Agean, playing games and idling away. During these games, they often referred to each other as Zeus and Hera, being, as they were, the gods of their own demesne. Word of this eventually reached the ears of Zeus.
Zeus did not have much patience for pretenders to his throne, even those that pretended in jest. Zeus threw a lightning bolt and sank the Ceyx’s ship, drowning all hands. Morpheus, the lord of dreams, appeared as Ceyx to Alcyone, telling her what had happened to her husband.
Grieving and alone, Alcyone threw herself into the sea, hoping to join her husband in the afterlife.
The gods, no stranger to Zeus' temper, intervened and transformed the couple into halcyon birds and ordered the winds to cease and the seas to calm for seven days on either side of the shortest day of the year so that the transformed Alcyone and Ceyx could build their nest in peace. And thus, halcyon days.
Vintage Illustration
Prior to doing this week’s research, I hadn’t known that the halcyon was a bird, much less what that bird looked like. A quick google search fixed that, naturally, but it also brought out some interesting finds.
For some time now, museums and libraries around the world began digitizing the older works in their collections. As this massive undertaking has progressed, forgotten treasures have resurfaced at a rate that is impossible to keep up with, and, from which I managed to pull these two images:
Belted Kingfisher from Birds of America (1827) by John James Audubon, etched by William Home Lizars. Original from University of Pittsburg. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.
Kingfisher in the snow (ca. 1925–1936) by Ohara Koson. Original from The Rijksmuseum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.
John James Audubon created the first image as part of his study of birds of North America; 18th and 19th-century scientists, in an attempt to catalog all the new species of flora and fauna discovered during the golden age of sail, painted thousands of exquisitely detailed watercolor illustrations like this one.
I am a huge fan of Japanese woodblock prints (known as ukiyo-e) and had actually seen this particular print in a gallery several years ago. What had been unknown to me at that time was the connection between the kingfisher bird and the phrase halcyon days.
I Used to Be Punk Rock
Over the centuries, the phrase has changed from being the two weeks of winter that have no storms to meaning something more like "the days of youth;" the phrase has acquired a nostalgic edge, something we say when we look back with some kind of fondness for days past, like in this song from Local H:
Those halcyon days are here
They went away but they're back again
This glow never ends, I'm numbed out on bliss
That it comes on like a friend and it's great
The song comes from the album "Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?" The entire record is a meditation on fame, what it's like to lose that fame, and how much you would give to get it back. From that perspective, it's possible to read the song's lyrics as though Scott Lucas, the primary songwriter in the band, is thinking of the band's halcyon days as when they had a major hit on the radio and were being feted and scouted by major labels as opposed to "now" (when the song was written) where the band is fighting to get new records made and produce new hits.
(Local H has long been a contender for most-eloquent-band-in-my-collection; I learned the word "copacetic" [another word that just sounds good] from their song "Bound for the Floor" when I was a teenager.)
Three for Three
The lesson here, if there is one at all, is to expect the unexpected. Going in reverse order, I knew the song, I expected to find a story behind the phrase halcyon days. I never would have expected to end up with two very different images in two very different art traditions as a way to bridge the two.
Definition(s):
from Cambridge Dictionary (online):
a very happy or successful period in the past
from Collins Cobuild Dictionary (online):
a. a fortnight of calm weather during the winter solstice
b. a period of peace and happiness
Notable Events of 2004:
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Art Online
I mentioned that museums and libraries are digitizing their collections above. A couple that I regularly browse for illustrations are:
All three collections have thousands upon thousands of beautiful images from all walks of life and art. To follow on from that, some of the more interesting collections of illustrations that I’ve come across are:
Next time: Torch songs. That's it. Stay strong, stay curious. Learn something.