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Craig White's Literature Courses ephemeral, evanescent, mercurial, transient
(subsitutable terms for a literary
aesthetic |
 thanks to http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/ 2013/9/167154-ephemeral-data/fulltext |
Definitions (from Oxford English Dictionary):
ephemera (n.): 1. An insect that (in its imago or winged form) lives only for a day. In mod. entomology the name of a genus of pseudo-neuropterous insects belonging to the group Ephemeridæ (Day-flies, May-flies). 2. transf. and fig. One who or something which has a transitory existence.
ephemeral (adj.): 1.b. Of insects, flowers, etc.: Existing for one day only, or for a very few days. 2.a. In more extended application: That is in existence, power, favour, popularity, etc. for a short time only; short-lived; transitory.
evanescent (adj.) [
1. That is on the point of vanishing or becoming imperceptible. In Mathematics, said of a diminishing quantity: That is at the instant of becoming zero; infinitesimal. Hence transf. of things: Imperceptibly minute, too small to perceive.
2. That quickly vanishes or passes away; having no permanence. Said of appearances, conditions, impressions, etc.
verb to evanesce: To fade out of sight, ‘melt into thin air’, disappear; chiefly fig. Also in scientific use . . . of the edge of a polyhedron when two adjacent faces are made to rotate into one plane.
mercurial
7. Of a person: having a
lively, volatile, or restless nature; liable to sudden and unpredictable changes
of mind or mood; quick-witted, imaginative. Later also gen. (applied to
animals, phenomena, etc.,): changeable, unpredictable, fickle.
Originally such qualities were associated with the
god or the planet [as through astrological influence by the god/planet Mercury;
the sense is now usually understood to allude to the properties of mercury the
metal.
transient
1.a. Passing by or away with time; not durable or permanent; temporary, transitory; esp. passing away quickly or soon, brief, momentary, fleeting
4. Passing through a place without staying in it, or staying only for a short time; in quot. 1731 of birds, migratory; spec. (U.S. colloq.) applied to a guest at a hotel, etc. (often ellipt. as n.: see B. 2). Also transf., for transient guests, short-stay.
These terms describe a fleeting or barely-glimpsed reality. Some examples:
Emily Dickinson, [I reason, earth is short--]
Emily Dickinson, [A light exists in spring]
.
. . A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human
nature feels.
It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the
furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost
speaks to me.
Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report
away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay .
. .
Hawthorne, The Minister's Black Veil: Father Hooper's breath heaved . . . . He even raised himself in bed; and there he sat, shivering with the arms of death around him, while the black veil hung down, awful, at that last moment, in the gathered terrors of a life-time. And yet the faint, sad smile, so often there, now seemed to glimmer from its obscurity, and linger on Father Hooper's lips.
Wallace Stevens, Le Monocle de Mon Oncle:
