Suddenly the light
of the setting sun yellows
and warms the landscape.
rustling of the withered leaves
and roar of the wind.
October 28, 1852
Now the woods look bare
reflected in the water --
birches still yellow.
October 28, 1854
The reflected woods
begin to look bare –I look
far between the trees.
Now the woods look bare
reflected in the water–
birches still yellow.
All at once pure white
low-slanting sunlight lights up
two ducks on the pond.
All at once slanting
pure white sun light lighting up
two ducks on the pond.
October 28, 1857
Leaves of the hemlock
now in the midst of its fall,
strew the ground like grain.
October 28, 1858
Fallen black walnuts
have a rich nutmeg fragrance,
now turning dark-brown.
October 28, 1859
have a rich nutmeg fragrance,
now turning dark-brown.
October 28, 1859
We make a great noise
going through the fallen leaves
in the wood-paths now.
October 28, 1860
As if the tumult
of the waves clashing your boat
as we sail the wood.
October 28, 1860.
going through the fallen leaves
in the wood-paths now.
October 28, 1860
As if the tumult
of the waves clashing your boat
as we sail the wood.
October 28, 1860.
*****
Four months of the green leaf make all our summer . . . from June 1st to October 1st. . . and methinks there are about four months when the ground is white with snow. That would leave two months for spring and two for autumn. October 28, 1852
October the month of ripe or painted leaves; November the month of withered leaves and bare twigs and limbs. October 28, 1852
Here is an Indian-summer day. Not so warm, indeed, as the 19th and 20th, but warm enough for pleasure. October 28, 1858
Just saw in the garden, in the drizzling rain, little sparrow-sized birds flitting about amid the dry corn stalks and the weeds, — one, quite slaty with black streaks and a bright-yellow crown and rump, which I think is the yellow-crowned warbler, but most of the others much more brown, with yellowish breasts and no yellow on crown to be observed, which I think the young of the same. One flew up fifteen feet and caught an insect. They uttered a faint chip. Some of the rest were sparrows. October 28, 1853
On the causeway I see fox-colored sparrows flitting along in the willows and alders, uttering a faint cheep, and tree sparrows with them. October 28, 1857
On a black willow, a single grackle with the bright irls. October 28, 1857
See a very large flock of crows. October 28, 1860
I look up and see a male marsh hawk with his clean cut wings, that has just skimmed past above my head, – not at all disturbed, only tilting his body a little, now twenty rods off, with demi-semi-quaver of his wings. He is a very neat flyer. October 28, 1857
Again, I hear the scream of a hen-hawk, soaring and circling onward . . . What a regular figure this fellow makes on high, with his broad tail and broad wings! . . . He goes round now one full circle without a flap, tilting his wing a little; then flaps three or four times and rises higher. Now he comes on like a billow, screaming. Steady as a planet in its orbit . . . His scream is . . . a hoarse, tremulous breathing forth of his winged energy . . . The hawks are large-souled. October 28, 1857 ,
As I paddle under the Hemlock bank this cloudy afternoon, about 3 o’clock, I see a screech owl sitfting on the edge of a hollow hemlock stump . . . I carried it home and made a small cage in which to keep it, for a night. October 28, 1855
I look up and see a male marsh hawk with his clean cut wings, that has just skimmed past above my head, – not at all disturbed, only tilting his body a little, now twenty rods off, with demi-semi-quaver of his wings. He is a very neat flyer. October 28, 1857
Again, I hear the scream of a hen-hawk, soaring and circling onward . . . What a regular figure this fellow makes on high, with his broad tail and broad wings! . . . He goes round now one full circle without a flap, tilting his wing a little; then flaps three or four times and rises higher. Now he comes on like a billow, screaming. Steady as a planet in its orbit . . . His scream is . . . a hoarse, tremulous breathing forth of his winged energy . . . The hawks are large-souled. October 28, 1857 ,
As I paddle under the Hemlock bank this cloudy afternoon, about 3 o’clock, I see a screech owl sitfting on the edge of a hollow hemlock stump . . . I carried it home and made a small cage in which to keep it, for a night. October 28, 1855
Goldenrods and asters have been altogether lingering some days. October 28, 1859
How handsome the great red oak acorns now! October 28, 1858
The boys are gathering walnuts. Their leaves are a yellowish brown.. October 28, 1852
Walnuts commonly fall, and the black walnuts at Smith's are at least half fallen. They are of the form and size of a small lemon and — what is singular — have a rich nutmeg fragrance. They are now turning dark-brown. October 28, 1859
Walnuts commonly fall, and the black walnuts at Smith's are at least half fallen. They are of the form and size of a small lemon and — what is singular — have a rich nutmeg fragrance. They are now turning dark-brown. October 28, 1859
The woods begin to look bare, reflected in the water, and I look far in between the stems of the trees under the bank. October 28, 1854
Swamp white oak withers apparently with the white. Some of both are still partly greenish, while others of both are bare. October 28, 1858
The majority of the white maples are bare, but others are still thickly leaved the leaves being a greenish yellow. It appears, then, that they hold their leaves longer than our other maples, or most trees. October 28, 1858
Birches, which began to change and fall so early, are still in many places yellow. October 28, 1854
The Populus grandidentata leaves are not all fallen yet. This, then, is late to lose its leaves, later, rather, than the sugar maple. Its leaves are large and conspicuous on the ground, and from their freshness make a great show there. It is later to fall than the tremuli formic, as it was later to bloom. October 28, 1858
The dogwood on the island is perhaps in its prime, — a distinct scarlet, with half of the leaves green in this case. Apparently none have fallen. October 28, 1858
I see yet also some Cornus sericea bushes with leaves turned a clear dark but dull red, rather handsome. October 28, 1858
Some large red oaks are still as bright as ever, and that is here a brownish yellow, with leaves partly withered; and some are already quite bare. October 28, 1858
The white pine needles on the ground are already turned considerably redder. October 28, 1857
Some large red oaks are still as bright as ever, and that is here a brownish yellow, with leaves partly withered; and some are already quite bare. October 28, 1858
The white pine needles on the ground are already turned considerably redder. October 28, 1857
We make a great noise going through the fallen leaves in the woods and wood-paths now, so that we cannot hear other sounds. October 28, 1860
Cattle coming down from up country. October 28, 1858
Sunset from the Poplar Hill. A warm, moist afternoon. The clouds lift in the west, — indeed the horizon is now clear all around. Suddenly the light of the setting sun yellows and warms all the landscape. The air is filled with a remarkably vaporous haze. The shadows of the trees on the river's edge stretch straight a quarter of a mile into the level russet Great Meadows. October 28, 1852
All at once a low-slanted glade of sunlight from one of heaven’s west windows behind me fell on the bare gray maples, lighting them up with an incredibly intense and pure white light; then, going out there, it lit up some white birch stems south of the pond, then the gray rocks and the pale reddish young oaks of the lower cliffs, and then the very pale brown meadow-grass, and at last the brilliant white breasts of two ducks, tossing on the agitated surface far off on the pond. October 28, 1857
October 10, 1851 ("You make a great noise now walking in the woods.")
October 21, 1857 ("I see many myrtle-birds now about the house this forenoon, on the advent of cooler weather. They keep flying up against the house and the window and fluttering there, as if they would come in, or alight on the wood-pile or pump. They would commonly be mistaken for sparrows, but show more white when they fly, beside the yellow on the rump and sides of breast seen near to and two white bars on the wings.")
October 22, 1855 ("I see at a distance the scattered birch-tops, like yellow flames amid the pines,");
October 22, 1857 ("As I go through the woods now, so many oak and other leaves have fallen the rustling noise somewhat disturbs my musing.”)
October 29, 1855 ("As I pass Merrick’s pasture, I see and count about a hundred crows advancing in a great rambling flock from the southeast and crossing the river on high, and cawing")
Sunset from the Poplar Hill. A warm, moist afternoon. The clouds lift in the west, — indeed the horizon is now clear all around. Suddenly the light of the setting sun yellows and warms all the landscape. The air is filled with a remarkably vaporous haze. The shadows of the trees on the river's edge stretch straight a quarter of a mile into the level russet Great Meadows. October 28, 1852
After whatever revolutions in my moods and experiences, when I come forth at evening, as if from years of confinement to the house, I see the few stars which make the constellation of the Lesser Bear in the same relative position, - the everlasting geometry of the stars. October 28, 1852
The moon beginning to wane. It is a quite warm but moist night. The dew in the withered grass reflects the moonlight October 28, 1852
That star which accompanies the moon will not be her companion tomorrow October 28, 1852
At the eleventh hour, late in the year, we have visions of the life we might have lived. October 28, 1857
*****
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Myrtle-bird
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Tree Sparrow
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Fox-colored Sparrow
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Winter Birds
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the American Crow
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The hen-hawk
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Marsh Hawk (Northern Harrier)
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The White Pines
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The October Pine Fall
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Birches in Season
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Big-toothed Aspen
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Aspens
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, October Moods
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, October Moonlight
*****
August 28, 1860 ("Just before setting, the sun comes out into a clear space in the horizon and a sudden blaze of light falls on east end of the pond and the hillside.")
September 25, 1851 ("Hawks, too, I perceive, sailing about in the clear air, looking white against the green pines, like the seeds of the milkweed. There is almost always a pair of hawks. Their shrill scream, that of the owls, and wolves are all related.")October 10, 1851 ("You make a great noise now walking in the woods.")
October 21, 1857 ("I see many myrtle-birds now about the house this forenoon, on the advent of cooler weather. They keep flying up against the house and the window and fluttering there, as if they would come in, or alight on the wood-pile or pump. They would commonly be mistaken for sparrows, but show more white when they fly, beside the yellow on the rump and sides of breast seen near to and two white bars on the wings.")
October 22, 1855 ("I see at a distance the scattered birch-tops, like yellow flames amid the pines,");
October 22, 1857 ("As I go through the woods now, so many oak and other leaves have fallen the rustling noise somewhat disturbs my musing.”)
October 23, 1857(“I can find no bright leaves now in the woods.”)
October 24, 1852 ("I see, far over the river, boys gathering walnuts.");
October 24, 1857 ("I hear the dull thump of heavy stones against the trees from far through the rustling wood, where boys are ranging for nuts. ")
October 26, 1860 ("This is the season of birch spangles, when you see afar a few clear-yellow leaves left on the tops of the birches.")
October 27, 1857 ("Now it is time to look out for walnuts")
October 24, 1852 ("I see, far over the river, boys gathering walnuts.");
October 24, 1857 ("I hear the dull thump of heavy stones against the trees from far through the rustling wood, where boys are ranging for nuts. ")
October 26, 1860 ("This is the season of birch spangles, when you see afar a few clear-yellow leaves left on the tops of the birches.")
October 27, 1857 ("Now it is time to look out for walnuts")
October 29, 1855 ("As I pass Merrick’s pasture, I see and count about a hundred crows advancing in a great rambling flock from the southeast and crossing the river on high, and cawing")
October 29, 1857 (" A flock of about eighty crows flies ramblingly over toward the sowing, cawing and loitering and making a great ado, apparently about nothing")
November 1, 1851 ("Counted one hundred and twenty five crows in one straggling flock moving westward. ")
November 1, 1851 ("Counted one hundred and twenty five crows in one straggling flock moving westward. ")
November 1, 1853 ("As I go up the back road, I am struck with the general stillness as far as birds are concerned.. . .I only hear some crows toward the woods. . . . As I return, I notice crows flying southwesterly in a very long straggling flock, of which I see probably neither end.")
November 2, 1853 (" A red-tailed hawk")
November 5, 1854 ("I think it is the fox-colored sparrow I see in flocks and hear sing now by wood-sides.")
November 6, 1853 ("It is surprising how little most of us are contented to know about the sparrows which drift about in the air before us just before the first snows. These little sparrows with white in tail, perhaps the prevailing bird of late, have flitted before me so many falls and springs, yet they have been strangers to me.")
November 14, 1853 (“October . . . is the sunset month of the year, when the earth is painted like the sunset sky.”)
November 2, 1853 (" A red-tailed hawk")
November 5, 1854 ("I think it is the fox-colored sparrow I see in flocks and hear sing now by wood-sides.")
November 6, 1853 ("It is surprising how little most of us are contented to know about the sparrows which drift about in the air before us just before the first snows. These little sparrows with white in tail, perhaps the prevailing bird of late, have flitted before me so many falls and springs, yet they have been strangers to me.")
November 14, 1853 (“October . . . is the sunset month of the year, when the earth is painted like the sunset sky.”)
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2019
"A book, each page written in its own season,
out-of-doors, in its own locality.”
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