Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

Hello:

How about "measure" in
"moving hand in hand in intricate measure"

Would you assign to it only a musical meaning?

I'm associating  it with both "rhythm" and "manner."

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[The title is taken from a painting by Nicolas Poussin,
http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Nicolas-Poussin/Dance-To-The-Music-Of-Time-C.-163
8.html
on which Jenkins reflects in Chapter 2 of A Question of Upbringing]

These classical projections, and something from the fire, suddenly
suggested Poussin’s scene in which the Seasons, hand in hand and
facing
outward, tread in rhythm to the notes of the lyre that the winged and
naked greybeard plays. The image of Time brought thoughts of
mortality: of human beings, facing outward like the Seasons, moving
hand in hand in intricate measure, stepping slowly, methodically
sometimes a trifle awkwardly, in evolutions that take recognizable
shape: or breaking into seemingly meaningless gyrations, while
partners disappear only to reappear again, once more giving pattern to
the spectacle: unable to control the melody, unable, perhaps, to
control the steps of the dance.

Anthony Powell, A Dance for the Music of Time, p. 5
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Thanks.
Marius Hancu