I saw the spiders marching through the air, Swimming from tree to tree that mildewed day In latter August when the hay Came creaking to the barn. But where The wind is westerly, Where gnarled November makes the spiders fly Into the apparitions of the sky, They purpose nothing but their ease and die Urgently beating east to sunrise and the sea.
Interpretation
The quote describes the natural movements of spiders during late summer and reflects on the passage of time and life's transient nature.
In this quote, Robert Lowell beautifully illustrates the serene yet fleeting moments of nature, as spiders navigate through the air from tree to tree. The imagery evokes a sense of change with the passing seasons, particularly highlighting how the urgency of nature's creatures, like the spiders, mirrors our own struggles and the inevitable cycle of life and death. The mention of the westerly wind and the transition into winter serves as a metaphor for the larger journey of existence, urging us to reflect on how we approach life and our own mortality.
In practice
This quote can be used in a nature-themed presentation to emphasize the beauty and transience of life.
Pity the planet, all joy gone from this sweet volcanic cone; peace to our children when they fall in small war on the heel of small war--until the end of time to police the earth, a ghost orbiting forever lost in our monotonous sublime
they ran in the sunlight, creating their own breeze which pressed their dresses into their damp skin. Reaching a kind of square of four locked trees which promised cooling; they flung themselves into the shade to taste their lip sweat and contemplate the wildness that had come upon them so suddenly
Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb towards it.
AND what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays; Whether we look, or whether we listen, We hear life murmur, or see it glisten.
The first steps in Agriculture, Astronomy, Zoology, (those first steps which the farmer, the hunter, and the sailor take,) teach that nature's dice are always loaded; that in her heaps and rubbish are concealed sure and useful results.
The fruit tasted foreign but indigenous, like sunlight a tree had changed through patience.
How beautifully everything is arranged by Nature; as soon as a child enters the world, it finds a mother ready to take care of it.
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