word order - Do these adjectives refer to ice?


In this sentence from Wuthering Heights



I declined joining their breakfast, and, at the first gleam of dawn, took an opportunity of escaping into the free air, now clear, and still, and cold as impalpable ice



Do the adjectives "clear", "still" and "cold" refer to "ice" which is used as a comparison to the air? Or is it only the adjective "cold" that refers to ice because it is preceded by a comma which separates it from the adjectives? What if the sentence went like this



I declined joining their breakfast, and, at the first gleam of dawn, took an opportunity of escaping into the free air, now fragrant, and light, and cold as impalpable ice



Would you say that it is clear that "cold" only refers to the phrase "as impalpable ice" or is it possible that a reader would think all those adjectives are like impalpable ice?




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

verbs - "Baby is creeping" vs. "baby is crawling" in AmE

commas - Does this sentence have too many subjunctives?

grammatical number - Use of lone apostrophe for plural?

etymology - Where does the phrase "doctored" originate?

phrases - Somebody is gonna kiss the donkey

typography - When a dagger is used to indicate a note, must it come after an asterisk?

etymology - Origin of "s--t eating grin"