In his 1729 poem Die Alpen—The Alps in English—Swiss Albrecht von Haller paints an idealized portrait of mountain life based on his journeys thorough the Swiss Alps while working as a botanist. Haller describes the beauty of the landscapes with flowery, sensual language: “the plum of honied flavor” (Haller, 57), “circling peaks create a rim of gleaming blue” (Haller, 65), and “The ambient air is full of scents and ambergris”(Haller, 69). Haller likens to the mountain communities as a sort of utopian society with his glorifying descriptions and admiring, awestruck tone.Even when describing the dark days of winter and rough, rock strewn dirt, he responds that the hardworking, mountainous people take their challenges in stride and build themselves into stronger people, which leads to what Haller really says with his poem. Hidden between descriptions of nature Haller comments on the tight knit communities living in unity with each other away from vice and greed. Haller builds an image of a wholesome and tight knit mountain community based around shared wisdom, respect for one another, and traditions. He comments on the two main communal relationships—that of the village as a whole and the household community structure. Due to the repetitive nature of life in the mountains—every year consistently cycles between Spring coming with lush fields for the cattle, planting seeds over the Summer, the Fall harvest, and finally Winter a time to rest and spend time with family—the elders
Deep in the Alps lies a small town called Clay. The sun was rising over a frosty blue mountain, and drops of dew dripped down from the leaves in the valley. Arthur awoke to find his bedroom filled with light. He went downstairs and drank a glass of water, not hungry enough for food. Arthur went outside into the chilly morning and started walking down the road. The road was lined with hundreds of huge alpine trees. A large flock of birds flew over Arthur’s head in the sky.
Arguably the most successful portrait of the military powerhouse, Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David is nothing short of political propaganda. Completed in January of 1801, this oil on canvas painting depicts Napoleon as he leads his troops across the Alps in May of 1800, which lead to the defeat of the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in June of the same year. The portrait, commissioned by the King of Spain, was to hang in the Royal Palace along with paintings of other military leaders. It is an equestrian portrait of the future Emperor of France. Though the painting depicts Napoleon leading his troops through the alps, he actually followed his troops a few days later. Nonetheless, the painting captures Napoleon’s great achievement
For centuries, seasons have been understood to stand for the same set of meanings. Seasons are easily understood by the reader, and are easy for the writer to use; as Foster states, “Seasons can work magic on us, and writers can work magic with seasons” (Foster 192). The different seasons are a huge part of our lives; we live through each one every year, and we know how each of them impacts our lives. This closeness between people and nature allows us to be greatly impacted by the use of seasons in literature. In addition, Foster lays out the basic meanings of each season for us: autumn is harvest, decline, tiredness; winter is anger, hatred, cold, old age; summer is passion, love, happiness, beauty; and spring is childhood and youth. On the
The seasons are part of the mother's life, while the father goes through life as if all were winter. The mother runs her house according to the seasons. She grows "miraculous gardens and magnificent flowers…"(132), and during berry picking season, "She would walk miles…"(132). Growing gardens, flowers and picking berries are seasonal activities. Every flower and fruit has its cycle during the year, which alludes how the mother lived through this. The importance of the seasons as part of the mother's life is presented even in the end of the story when the narrator says that the "[mother] looks through her lonely window onto the ice of winter…"(140). Therefore, she is alone gazing out the window, waiting for her death, which is symbolized by the winter. On the other hand, for the father all the seasons are the same. All of them are winter. The narrator describes his father, "with blue eyes flossing like clearest ice
Frost moves onto autumn and shows what little life is left begins to wither and fall, or as he put it in the first line of the third set ?Then leaf subsides to leaf.? The playful spirit of the young is lost in time as age quickly pours what seems like endless duties upon adults. Things once learned are forgotten and the sun creeps slowly below the horizon. Time once again takes it toll on all things living
In the story. “The End of Retirement” there are many conditions described in the lives of the “workampers”. Throughout the story it describes the nomads as a community, they are brought together in a certain way. People from the age sixty and up traveled frequently in groups to different seasonal jobs. Communal life is belonging to a community of people, shared or participated in public. In the story
The snowstorm that prompts the narrative event is described in a typically romantic way, using lively diction that glorifies blizzard. References to Asian architecture and the leaning tower of Pisa coincide with the romantic near-obsession with ancient civilizations. The evocative imagery of the ancient buildings and exotic cultures coincides also with the striking natural imagery that is characteristic of romantic poetry. In
Many of the people living in the village have come from a variety of lives before moving into the community. Some old, some new, and often have been alone most of their life.
The sense of the community allowed neighbors to become great friends, small circles where everybody knew everybody. “I had 136 mommas and daddies… No one was better than anyone else in that grid of small houses because everyone was the same” (pages 85 and 86). The children that were not working at the mill, wondered around the villages. They were welcomed at every door they came to. Everyone in the mill village flourished off of each other’s talents from music to healing abilities to athletics. Not being able to afford the doctor practices provided by the company, they would turn to spiritual healings performed by “witches”, it was a cheaper alternative. Odell Knight once was taken by his mother to visit Miss Cenie, a skinny, religious woman with The Gift. She “talked to his wound” and the next day it was magically healed. The mill village looked to the mill’s baseball team as an escape on Saturdays. “It was one of the few times that the town people and the village people mixed, a free show in a time when all the money was tight” (page 115). Both the town and the village people came together to escape the reality of the Great Depression. It was an inexpensive activity enjoyed by many. The village baseball team did not feel as if they were just mill workers, they felt as if they were more when they played in these games. Little boys would ask Clay Hammett and the other Profile Nine for their autographs.
Quotes: “deep and green”, “golden foothill slopes”, “rabbits sat as quietly as little grey stones (unafraid), “for a moment the place was lifeless”, “path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches.”
Our yearly pilgrimage to our deer lease in Menard, Texas starts every year on the first Friday in November. To get there we head four hours north thru the sprawling metropolis of San Antonio, full of its traffic and impatient drivers. Upon leaving the city limits of San Antonio, we head west towards Kerrville and the landscape starts to change drastically. No longer are we driving on flat land but now the car is climbing small hills and the road winds. We drive in this direction until we reach the vast acres of ranch land located on a lonely farm road between the small cities of Junction and Menard. If you drive too fast down the winding road, you will miss the old metal gate that is almost hidden by brush trees. My husband is the hunter, yet I love to come with him, because this is the place, where I disconnect from the fast paced life of city dwelling and feel reconnected once again to nature and I find peace and rest here in this cactus and dirt oasis.
“Trees towered upwards with bending boughs holding the weight of the freshly fallen snow. A blanket of snow hid away all traces of animal life although you could hear the krawing of a murder of crows. Their hidden presence was foreboding to all men who passed through the forest. It was a signal of another starved beast returning to the earth. Even the most frivolous found the endless winter to be a burden.
When the sun slowly peeps over the range of mountains, birds shake the morning dew off their feathers and give a cheerful song that would lift even the most sorrowful of spirits. A light fog wraps around the mountain range, reaching to touch every bit of life thriving there. The slight chill in the air is enough to give a gentle shiver, but not enough for the need of a jacket. A breeze tickles the trees, making their leaves shake and sway with laughter. Sunlight seeps in past the thick canopy of branches with hopes of being able to reach the damp mountain earth. The mountains are the best place to live to be relaxed, see the most beauty, and never get bored.
Frost’s use of alliteration, personification, and imagery definitely conveyed the speaker’s attitude towards the woods. The reader believes Frost wrote about the woods to show how peaceful and calming it is in an isolated place such as the woods. Most people live in crowded neighborhoods or over-populated places, but living in a secluded area decreases the stress of others outside their household. Because of how isolated the woods are, they can worry about themselves compared to worrying and stressing on the outside
Robert Frost’s nature poetry occupies a significant place in the poetic arts; however, it is likely Frost’s use of nature is the most misunderstood aspect of his poetry. While nature is always present in Frost’s writing, it is primarily used in a “pastoral sense” (Lynen 1). This makes sense as Frost did consider himself to be a shepherd.