Winter Colors (The solstice)

solstice 2019

We are tempted to call these

 the finest days of the year. 

  December 21, 1854

Now the sun sets suddenly without a cloud, and with scarcely any redness following, so pure is the atmosphere, only a faint rosy blush along the horizon.  December 19, 1851

A faint rosy blush,

horizon without a cloud -- 

sun sets suddenly.

December 19, 1851

Walden froze completely over last night. . . and the ice is now from two and a half to three inches thick, a transparent green ice, through which I see the bottom where it is seven or eight feet deep. December 19, 1856

Walden froze last night.

Transparent green ice through which

I see the bottom.

December 19, 1856

Red, white, green, and, in the distance, dark brown are the colors of the winter landscape. December 20, 1851

Red, white, green colors 

and, in the distance, dark brown --

The winter landscape.

December 20, 1851

It has been a glorious winter day, its elements so simple, —the sharp clear air, the white snow everywhere covering the earth, and the polished ice. December 20, 1854 

The icy water

reflecting the warm colors

of the sunset sky.

December 20, 1855

Long after the sun has set

and downy clouds have turned dark

and the shades of night

have taken possession of the east

some rosy clouds will be seen

in the upper sky

over the portals of the darkening west. 

December 21, 1851

Fair Haven Pond, for instance, a perfectly level plain of white snow, untrodden as yet by any fisherman, surrounded by snow-clad hills, dark evergreen woods, and reddish oak leaves, so pure and still. The last rays of the sun falling on the Baker Farm reflect a clear pink color. December 21, 1854

Dark evergreen woods,

untrodden snow pure and still --

these the finest days.

December 21, 1854

Last rays of the sun 

falling on the Baker Farm 

reflect a clear pink.

December 21, 1854

A few simple colors now prevail. December 21, 1855

I look back to the wharf rock shore and see . . , the warmest object in the landscape, — a narrow line of warm yellow rushes — for they reflect the western light, — along the edge of the somewhat snowy pond and next the snow-clad and wooded shore. December 22, 1859

A narrow line of

yellow rushes lit up by 

the westering sun.

December 22, 1859

A narrow white line

of snow on the storm side of

every exposed tree.

December 23, 1851

These are the colors of the earth now:

• all land that has been some time cleared, except it is subject to the plow, is russet;
• the color of withered herbage and the ground finely commixed, a lighter straw-color where are rank grasses next water;
• sprout-lands, the pale leather-color of dry oak leaves;
• pine woods, green;
• deciduous woods (bare twigs and stems and withered leaves commingled), a brownish or reddish gray;
• maple swamps, smoke-color;
• land just cleared, dark brown and earthy;
• plowed land, dark brown or blackish;
• ice and water, slate-color or blue;
• andromeda swamps, dull red and dark gray;
• rocks, gray.

December 23, 1855

You may walk eastward in the winter afternoon till the ice begins to look green, half to three quarters of an hour before sunset, the sun having sunk behind you to the proper angle. Then it is time to turn your steps homeward. . . . I ascended Ball's Hill to see the sun set. How red its light at this hour! I covered its orb with my hand, and let its rays light up the fine woollen fibres of my glove. They were a dazzling rose-color. December 23, 1859

Now all the clouds grow black, and I give up to-night; but unexpectedly, half an hour later when I look out, having got home, I find that the evening star is shining brightly, and, beneath all, the west horizon is glowing red, . . . and I detect, just above the horizon, the narrowest imaginable white sickle of the new moon. December 23, 1851

Saw also some pine grosbeaks, magnificent winter birds, among the weeds and on the apple trees; . . .some of them, when they flit by, are seen to have gorgeous heads, breasts, and rumps , with red or crimson reflections, more beautiful than a steady bright red would be. December 24, 1851

December 24, 2015

I go forth to see the sun set. Who knows how it will set, even half an hour beforehand? . . . I witness a beauty in the form or coloring of the clouds which addresses itself to my imagination. . . . I, standing twenty miles off, see a crimson cloud in the horizon. You tell me it is a mass of vapor which absorbs all other rays and reflects the red, but that is nothing to the purpose, for this red vision excites me, stirs my blood, makes my thoughts flow, and I have new and indescribable fancies. December 25, 1851


The sun getting low now, say at 3.30, I see the ice green, southeast.  . . . How full of soft, pure light the western sky now, after sunset! I love to see the outlines of the pines against it. Unless you watch it, you do not know when the sun goes down. It is like a candle extinguished without smoke. A moment ago you saw that glittering orb amid the dry oak leaves in the horizon, and now you can detect no trace of it. In a pensive mood I enjoy the complexion of the winter sky at this hour.

Full of soft pure light

western sky after sunset,

the outlines of pines.

December 25, 1858