A Book of the Seasons, Signs of Spring: The Days have grown Sensibly Longer

No mortal is alert enough to be present at the first dawn of the spring. 

Henry Thoreau, March 17, 1857

One attraction in coming to the woods to live was 

that I should have leisure and opportunity to see the spring come in. 

The ice in the pond at length begins to be honey-combed . . . 

the days have grown sensibly longer; 

and I see how I shall get through the winter without adding to my wood-pile.

 Walden

December 28. Since the snow of the 23d, the days seem considerably lengthened, owing to the increased light after sundown. December 28, 1856

January 3. From the Peak, I look over the wintry landscape . . . The twilight appears to linger. The day seems suddenly longer. January 3, 1854

January 7. I perceive the increased length of the day on returning from my afternoon walk. Can it be? The sun sets only about five minutes later, and the day is about ten minutes longer. January 7, 1853

January 20. The days are now sensibly longer, and half past five is as light as five was. January 20, 1852

January 23. The increased length of the days is very observable of late. January 23, 1854

January 24. The sun sets about five.January 24, 1852

January 25. There is something springlike in this afternoon . . . The earth and sun appear to have approached some degrees. January 25, 1853

January 25. For a week or two the days have been sensibly longer, and it is quite light now when the five-o’clock train comes in January 25, 1855

February 9. It is midwinter. Within a few days the cold has set in stronger than ever, though the days are much longer now . . . February 9, 1851

February 18.   Now for the first time decidedly there is something spring-suggesting in the air and light. Though not particularly warm, the light of the sun (now travelling so much higher) on the russet fields, —the ground being nearly all bare, —and on the sand and the pines, is suddenly yellower. It is the earliest day-breaking of the year.  February 18, 1855 

February 19. The lengthening of the days, commenced a good while ago, is a kind of forerunner of the spring. February 19, 1852

February 23. I have seen signs of the spring. February 23, 1857

February 27.  Though it was a dry, powdery snow-storm yesterday, the sun is now so high that the snow is soft and sticky this afternoon. February 27, 1859

February 27.  The abundance of light as reflected from clouds and the snow, etc., etc. is more springlike than anything of late.  February 27, 1860

March 15. Notwithstanding this day is so cold that I keep my ears covered, the sidewalks melt in the sun, such is its altitude. March 15, 1853

March 18. The season is so far advanced that the sun affects me as I have not been affected for a long time. I must go forth . . . All nature is thus forward to move with the revolution of the seasons . . . This the foreglow of the year, when the walker goes home at eve to dream of summer. March 18, 1853

March 18. Two little water-bugs . . . Notwithstanding the backwardness of the season, all the town still under deep snow and ice, here they are, in the first open and smooth water, governed by the altitude of the sun. March 18, 1856

See also Signs of the Spring:

• A Change in the Air
• A Sunny Nook in Spring
• Alder and Willow Catkins Expanding
• Braided Ripples of Melting Snow Shine in the Ruts
• Bright Blue Water
• Buzzing Flies
• Ducks Afar, Sailing on the Meadow
• Frogs, and Turtles Stirring
• Geese Overhead
• Greening Grasses and Sedges
• I begin to think that my wood will last
• Insects and Worms Come Forth and are Active
• Listening for the Bluebird
• March is famous for its Winds
• Mosses Bright Green
• My Greatcoat on my Arm
• Perla-like Insects Appear
• Red Maple Sap Flows
• Ripples made by Fishes
• Skunks Active
• The Anxious Peep of the Early Robin
• The crowing of cocks, the cawing of crows
• The Days have grown Sensibly Longer
• The Eaves Begin to Run
• The Gobbling of Turkeys
• The Grackle Arrives
• The Hawks of March
• The New Warmth of the Sun
• The Note of the Dark-eyed Junco Going Northward
• The Red-Wing Arrives
• The Skunk Cabbage Blooms
• The Softened Air of these Warm February Days
• The Song Sparrow Sings
• The Spring Note of the Chickadee
• The Spring Note of the Nuthatch
• The Striped Squirrel Comes Out
• The Water Bug (Gyrinus)
• The Woodchuck Ventures Out
• Walking without Gloves
• Woodpeckers Tapping

 

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A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Signs of the Spring; The Days have grown Sensibly Longer

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau

 "A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2024