by beatriceotto | Aug 15, 2017 | triologisms |
What majesty in this triologism – a hawk thriving despite a New England winter. ‘The warmest springs hardly allow me the glimpse of a frog’s heel as he settles himself in the mud, and I think I am lucky if I see one winter-defying hawk or a hardy...
by beatriceotto | Aug 15, 2017 | triologisms |
Autumn alights with bright-tinted shrubs. And yes, you need to be on the alert to perceive their full beauty. ‘A passer-by might, perhaps would, have noticed that the bright-tinted shrubs about the high shore on the sunny side were reflected in the water; but,...
by beatriceotto | Aug 14, 2017 | metaphors |
Thoreau likens a fisherman’s weaving of a creel to creating a poem about the spring. He shows great respect for skills and care in material things and processes. ‘He was meditating a small poem in his way. It was equal to a successful stanza whose subject...
by beatriceotto | Aug 14, 2017 | metaphors |
Thoreau packs in a rich deck of similes and metaphors in this short description of the shrub oak. For the image, I looked for something that conveyed ‘clean as the atmosphere’, but I also like ‘hardy as virtue’ and the idea of being as...
by beatriceotto | Aug 14, 2017 | metaphors |
A measured, precise, unfussy speaker, this farmer. I also liked the idea of his not melting the snow where he treads, as if he is himself made of this clean, cold, moderate element. ‘The farmer spoke to me, I can swear, clean, cold, moderate as the snow. He...
by beatriceotto | Aug 14, 2017 | metaphors |
Of course, we can’t know (yet) how insensible a fungus is, but until we learn otherwise, what a memorable way to convey a loss of wonder. Apologies to all wondering fungi. And may wonder never become extinct in you, whether or not you resemble fungus....
by beatriceotto | Aug 10, 2017 | a quote to note |
Thoreau doesn’t seem to have had a particularly harmonious relationship with formal religion, and he makes some side-swiping comments about the church and its representatives, while also being an immensely reverent – and in that sense – religious...
by beatriceotto | Aug 10, 2017 | a quote to note |
Yes, I know what he means. I’m becoming increasingly tolerant of weeds and have started protecting and even nurturing some. As a result, our lawn is taking on the character of a wild flower meadow, and this week I was heartened to see the first invasion of cow...
by beatriceotto | Aug 10, 2017 | a quote to note |
And sometimes I’m not even sure I know what I think because it’s been so long since I was invited to express it. ‘I am surprised as well as delighted when any one wishes to know what I think.’ 23 Mar 1853 Source: Henry David Thoreau, The...
