Alright lads, I've just started to read this short story and it's immediately tripped me up. I don't know if it's the lack of sleep and mind-fog or what, but there's a phrase used that I can't find any definition for. "Bright-towered" is the phrase. The sentence is:
With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea.
What would you take this to mean? I'm probably over thinking this but I can't let it go.
I think Le Guin was just using fairly self-explanatory imagery. There are towers and they are bright, either through their own colouring or the sun shining on them.
>With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea. The ringing of the boats in the harbor sparkled with flags. In the streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees, past great parks and public building, processions moved.
From the context it seems pretty clear she's painting a picture of a nice place. It sounds lovely.
erm, the seaside city called Omelas which has towers that are bright is having a festival that has kicked off with some bells ringing which have scared some birds?
