The 5th day of December demands 5 quotes -
These are all taken from "The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady". The author, Edith Holden, died while doing what she loved best - observing the natural world. She belonged to the generation of my great grandparents and I thank her for her inspirational notes and artwork. She includes quotations from other writers - some well-known, some little-known today, in her account of the changing seasons in the British countryside. I have chosen three well-known writers and two of Edith's diary entries.
"When daisies go, shall winter time
Silver the simple grass with rime.
Autumnal frost enchant the pool
And make the cart-ruts beautiful . . . "(R.L.Stevenson)
"After a rapid thaw and four days of wonderfully mild, still weather, without wind or rain, the wind has gone round to the east and it looks as if we might have a frosty Christmas after all."
(December 20th, 1906)
"They should have drawn thee by the high-heap't hearth,
Old Winter! seated in thy great armed chair;
Watching the children at their Christmas mirth;
Or circled by them as thy lips declare
Some merry jest, or tale of murder dire . . . . "(R.Southey)
"Bright and clear, more heavy snow storms are reported from all parts of the country, accompanied in some places by thunder and lightning. Skating has commenced in the Fens."
(December 28th, 1906)
"To sit on rocks; to muse o'er flood and fell;
To slowly trace the forest's shady scene,
Where things that own not man's dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been!
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
With the wild flock, that never need a fold;
Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean;
This is not solitude: 'tis but to hold
Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled."(Byron)
No comments:
Post a Comment