Blackbirds, as anyone who has been woken by their loud, hearty and varied song early on a summer’s day, knows these birds aren’t quiet in the mating season.  But in winter perhaps they keep their heads down in search of food and shelter, pending the weather made for courting.   Here, Mary Webb’s protagonist keeps quiet. 

I sat mum as a winter blackbird. 

We’ll soon share another winter bird metaphor.  In the meantime, enjoy these further similes for silence, one sense-swirling one by Lawrence Durrell; a raptorial description by Henry Williamson, along with another by him depicting a mist.  And one by Bronte, for good measure.

Source: Mary Webb, Precious Bane (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981), p. 81

Photo credit: PenjaK at pixabay