Fugue By Carl Sagan Sparknotes
"fugue- a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts. (Sagan 18)"
The word fugue seems out of place in an astronomy book. The use of the word quickly makes sense when you realize Carl Sagan is talking about the way Earth's short melody fits into the Milky Way's composition. The word heads off the music theme for the section. The section begins with pondering of other life in the galaxy. Carl Sagan asks questions to which there are no apparent answers."What would it [life on other planets] look like? What would it be made of? What would it be like?" Continuing the musical theme, "Our biologists are profoundly limited. They study only a single kind of biology, one lonely theme in the music of life. Is this faint and reedy tune the only voice for thousands of lightyears? Or is there a kind of cosmic fugue, with themes and counterpoints, dissonances and harmonies, a billion different voices playing the life music of the Galaxy? (Sagan 19)" ends the section. …show more content…
He uses this to bring up a special species of crab; the Heike, that are said to be the ghostly remnants of the aforementioned drowned samurai. The crabs have "curious markings on their backs, and patterns and indentations that disturbingly resemble the face of a samurai. (Sagan 21)". This crab species is the perfect example of natural/artificial selection, Carl Sagan's next
The word fugue seems out of place in an astronomy book. The use of the word quickly makes sense when you realize Carl Sagan is talking about the way Earth's short melody fits into the Milky Way's composition. The word heads off the music theme for the section. The section begins with pondering of other life in the galaxy. Carl Sagan asks questions to which there are no apparent answers."What would it [life on other planets] look like? What would it be made of? What would it be like?" Continuing the musical theme, "Our biologists are profoundly limited. They study only a single kind of biology, one lonely theme in the music of life. Is this faint and reedy tune the only voice for thousands of lightyears? Or is there a kind of cosmic fugue, with themes and counterpoints, dissonances and harmonies, a billion different voices playing the life music of the Galaxy? (Sagan 19)" ends the section. …show more content…
He uses this to bring up a special species of crab; the Heike, that are said to be the ghostly remnants of the aforementioned drowned samurai. The crabs have "curious markings on their backs, and patterns and indentations that disturbingly resemble the face of a samurai. (Sagan 21)". This crab species is the perfect example of natural/artificial selection, Carl Sagan's next