It was an overcast late November morning, the grass splintered by hoarfrost, and winter grinning through the gaps in the clouds like a bad clown peering through the curtains before the show begins.
Interpretation
The quote paints a vivid picture of a chilly winter morning, highlighting the eerie anticipation of the season's arrival.
In this quote, John Connolly uses rich imagery to evoke the mood of a cold November morning. The description of the hoarfrost and winter's presence as a 'bad clown' suggests an unsettling but intriguing atmosphere, inviting readers to experience the beauty and strangeness of nature as winter approaches, where the familiar becomes slightly ominous.
In practice
This quote can be used to introduce a discussion on seasonal changes in a nature appreciation group.
Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by flashlight beneath a blanket, they had no real existence in our world. They were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music into being.
For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.
We all have our routines," he said softly."But they must have a purpose and provide an outcome that we can see and take some comfort from, or else they have no use at all. Without that, they are like the endless pacings of a caged animal. If they are not madness itself, then they are a prelude to it.
He would talk to them of stories and books, and explain to them how stories wanted to be told and books wanted to be read, and how everything that they ever needed to know about life and the land of which he wrote, or about any land or realm that they could imagine, was contained in books. And some of the children understood, and some did not.
As a young boy, I was obsessed with endangered species and the extinct species that men killed off. Biology was the subject in school that I was incredibly passionate about.
A noise like of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June, That to the sleeping woods all night Singeth a quiet tune.
I want my body to help fertilize the growth of a cactus or cliff rose or sagebrush or tree.
Nothing is more consonant with Nature than that she puts into operation in the smallest detail that which she intends as a whole.
If one truly loves nature one finds beauty everywhere.
I think that Canada is one of the most impressive countries in the world, the way it has managed a diverse population, a migrant economy. The natural beauty of Canada is extraordinary. Obviously there is enormous kinship between the United States and Canada, and the ties that bind our two countries together are things that are very important to us.
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