Usage of て form before relative clause e.g. そう呟いて見上げる空は、朝見たよりも輝いて見えた


My question is how to interpret this.

> そう呟いて見上げる空は、朝見たよりも輝いて見えた

In this sentence does it mean he was already looking at the sky before he
muttered whatever he said, or can it still indicate actions in succession when
the verb is used in a relative clause after the て form(i.e. he muttered this
and then looked up)?

edit: I think it means that in this case he was already looking upwards before
he said it and the て form is to show the successive action at the end of the
sentence?




Generally speaking, connecting two verbs like this using _te_ -form indicates
the two actions happens simultaneously, or the second one happens soon after
the first one.

>   * 酔って運転する drive under the influence of alcohol, drink and drive
>   * 会って話す meet and talk
>   * 食べて寝る eat and sleep, go to bed just after eating
>   * 遊んで暮らす spend days in idleness
>

In your example sentence, maybe he muttered something _and then_ looked up to
the sky. Or maybe he muttered something and looked up to the sky almost at the
same time. But it's unlikely that he has been already looking at the sky for a
while before muttering something.




Usually, `A-て B` composition describes "do _B_ with effect or result of _A_ ",
that is, either _A_ continues as long as _B_ does (like your second one
`輝いて見えた`), or _A_ completes when/before _B_ starts. But I know, oddly enough,
_A_ sometimes accepts action of utterance that apparently too late for _B_ 's
beginning.

Some examples through quick Googling:

> 「ここか……緊張するな」そう言って見上げるのは１１階建てのマンション。 (from
> [here](http://homepage3.nifty.com/mercurius/novel/app_old/021.html))
>
> 綺麗だねぇと言って見上げる村人たちの顔に (from [here](http://tanpen.jp/148/23.html))
>
> 「どっから来たの、おじさん」そう言って見上げたサンジに (from
> [here](http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/%7Epuppy/novel/kaiki/11.htm))

I suspect this usage is a rhetorical compromise with grammar, in order to
smoothly induce readers' attention from speech to visual scene.

