The Pageant of Summer

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Pages: 14

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About this book

A hedge thick with rushes, wild parsley and hawthorn gives Richard Jefferies a whole summer landscape to examine. His nature essay follows scents, plant growth and the quick movements of birds around a meadow. A whitethroat disappears into the foliage, insects hover in the light, and an old apple tree bears the marks of many seasons. Such small observations lead him to reflect on the power of sunlight and the hope he finds in growing things.

The writing moves between close attention to the countryside and thoughts about human life. The calm of doves during a storm becomes an example of courage, while greenfinches and butterflies suggest a different sense of time. Readers interested in nature writing will find both a detailed account of summer activity and a personal argument for learning patience and confidence from it.

About the author

Richard Jefferies

Richard Jefferies (1848-1887) was an English nature writer and novelist born on a Wiltshire farm at Coate. Celebrated for essays and books rooted in the countryside, among them The Story of My Heart and Bevis, he combined precise natural observation with mysticism before dying young of tuberculosis.