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
By confronting us with irreducible mysteries that stretch our daily vision to include infinity, nature opens an inviting and guiding path toward a spiritual life.
Garden making, like gardening itself, concerns the relationship of the human being to his natural surroundings.
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
Mathematics are well and good but Nature keeps dragging us around by the nose.
If there is nothing you can share with other people, try to be close to Things, they will not abandon you; and the nights are still here and the winds that move through the trees and across many lands; everything in the world of Things and animals is still filled with happening, which you can take part in.
We can't negotiate the facts. We can't negotiate the truth about the situation. And for those who are too fearful to finish, it can be done and must be done. Make sure we succeed, . . . It is wrong for this generation to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every future generation.
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