Trees stand bare against
the sky again – this the first
month in which they do.
Now seen by moonlight
the open leafless woods bright
as the open field.
November 7. At Walden are three reflections of the bright full (or nearly) moon, one moon and two sheens further off. November 7, 1851
November 12 The light of the rising moon in the east. Moonrise is a faint sunrise. And what shall we name the faint aurora that precedes the moonrise? . . . The openness of the leafless woods is particularly apparent now by moonlight; they are nearly as bright as the open field . . .I thought to-night that I saw glow-worms in the grass, on the side of the hill; was almost certain of it, and tried to lay my hand on them, but found it was the moonlight reflected from (apparently) the fine frost crystals on the withered grass . . . It had precisely the effect of twinkling glow-worms. November 12, 1851
November 12. Moon nearly full. A mild, almost summer evening after a very warm day, alternately clear and overcast. The meadows, with perhaps a little mist on them, look as if covered with frost in the moonlight . . .The moon is wading slowly through broad squadrons of clouds, with a small coppery halo, and now she comes forth triumphant and burnishes the water far and wide, and makes the reflections more distinct. Trees stand bare against the sky again. This the first month in which they do . . . . The dark squadrons of hostile clouds have now swept over the face of the moon, and she appears unharmed and riding triumphant in her chariot. Suddenly they dwindle and melt away in her mild, and all-pervading light, dissipated like the mists of the morning. They pass away and are forgotten like bad dreams. November 12, 1853
November 13. We looked out the window at 9 P. M. and saw the ground for the most part white with the first sugaring, which at first we could hardly tell from a mild moonlight, — only there was no moon. Thus it comes stealthily in the night and changes the whole aspect of the earth. November 13, 1858
November 13. No memory prepares us for Cassiopeia in the now leafless night sky, or for that moment in the moonlight when a shadow crosses the forest floor, an owl overhead. November. Trees spread their seed, set their buds and open the sky to the stars. Returning home under this full moon I am one with the universe.
Sky full of stars
heart full of tears
love for the world
lost all these years.
zphx, November 13, 2016
November 14. 6.30 PM To Baker Farm by boat It is full moon and a clear night with a strong northwest wind so C and I must have a sail by moonlight The river has risen surprisingly to a spring height owing to yesterday's rain higher than before since spring We sail rapidly upward The river apparently almost actually as broad as the Hudson Venus remarkably bright just ready to set Not a cloud in the sky only the moon and a few faint unobtrusive stars here and there and from time to time a meteor . . . It is very pleasant to make our way thus rapidly but mysteriously over the black waves black as ink and dotted with round foamspots with a long moonlight sheen on one side to make one's way upward thus over the waste of waters not knowing where you are exactly only avoiding shores The stars are few and faint in this bright light . . . The wind goes down somewhat The features of the landscape are simpler and lumped We have the moon with a few stars above a waste of black dashing waves around reflecting the moon's sheen on one side and the distant shore in dark swelling masses dark floating isles between the water and the sky on either hand Moored our boat under Fair Haven Hill The light is so strong that colors of objects are not much changed from the day The water seen from the hill is still blue and the fields are russet. November 14, 1853
November 15 Just after sundown though it had been before the waters became suddenly smooth and clear yellow light of the western sky was reflected in the water making it doubly light to me the water diffusing light from below as well as above. Were those insects on the surface after the moon rose skaters or water bugs? November 15, 1853
See also:
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, June Moonlight
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, July Moonlight
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, August Moonlight
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, September Moonlight
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, October Moonlight
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, December Moonlight
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, November Moonlight
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 © 2009-2025
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