Reviews for Autumnal Tints

The average rating for Autumnal Tints based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-06 00:00:00 M. Soheil "How beautiful, when a whole tree is like one great scarlet fruit full of ripe juices, every leaf, from lowest limb to topmost spire, all aglow, especially if you look toward the sun! What more remarkable object can there be in a landscape?" Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden, Civil Disobedience, and many others, wrote this ode to Autumn, to the colours of fall, the red, orange, yellow leaves, to life, to the beauty around us most evident in Nature. As he wrote this, he knew his own death was approaching having been diagnosed with Tuberculosis, and he dedicated himself to writing this devotion to the brilliance and beauty of autumn that he saw in the world around him. In speaking of a Scarlett Oak, Thoreau said: "This very perfect and vigorous one, about forty feet high, standing in an open pasture, which was quite glossy green on the 12th, is now, the 26th, completely changed to bright dark scarlet, every leaf, between you and the sun as if it had been dipped into a scarlet dye. The whole tree is much like a heart in form, as well as color. Was not this worth waiting for? Little did you think ten days ago, that that cold green tree would assume such color as this. Its leaves are still firmly attached, while those of other trees, are falling around it. It seems to say'I am the last to blush, but I blush deeper than any of ye. I bring up the rear in my red coat. We Scarlet ones, alone of oaks, have not given up the fight." "No annual training or muster of soldiery, no celebration with its scarfs and banners, could import into the town a hundredth part of the annual splendor of our October. We have only to set the trees, or let them stand, and Nature will find the colored drapery,'flags of all her nations, some of whose private signals hardly the botanist can read,'while we walk under the triumphal arches of the Elms. Leave it to Nature to appoint the days, whether the same as in neighboring States or not, and let the clergy read her proclamations, if they can understand them. Behold what a brilliant drapery is her Woodbine flag!" I read this book, which has some lovely illustrations, and I also listened to the audio version as I drove to a few of my favourite spots to sit and ponder Thoreau's words and the beauty all around, and where my dogs, Halle and Roxy, love to play, especially now that the air has begun to cool. The beginning pages, nearly half the book, consist of an introduction by American historian and biographer, Robert D. Richardson, husband of Annie Dillard. The illustrations, watercolours, are by Lincoln Perry. "Let us have Willows for spring, Elms for summer, Maples and Walnuts and Tupeloes for autumn, Evergreens for winter, and Oaks for all Seasons." A lovely reflection on the beauty that surrounds us, and while this is seen through the eyes of a man in New England, it shows us that no matter where we are, there is more to see in our surroundings. On this contemplation, knowing how many seasons of his life are left, his thoughts lean toward what we may learn from nature about our life, to be glad and grateful of our days "scampering over the earth," and, at the last to appreciate all the phases of life. It is pleasant to walk over the beds of these fresh, crisp, and rustling leaves. How beautifully they go to their graves! how gently lay themselves down and turn to mould!'painted of a thousand hues, and fit to make the beds of us living. So they troop to their last resting-place, light and frisky. They put on no weeds, but merrily they go scampering over the earth, selecting the spot, choosing a lot, ordering no iron fence, whispering all through the woods about it,'some choosing the spot where the bodies of men are mouldering beneath, and meeting them half-way. How many flutterings before they rest quietly in their graves! They that soared so loftily, how contentedly they return to dust again, and are laid low, resigned to lie and decay at the foot of the tree, and afford nourishment to new generations of their kind, as well as to flutter on high! They teach us how to die.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-11-23 00:00:00 Marla Walker Una lectura muy poética. El autor amaba el otoño, y te lo contagia. Es tan fácil imaginarte los paisajes que describe, que es como si pasearas por esos lugares. Leyéndolo en la estación mencionada, te dan ganas de salir a la calle y contemplar los árboles, el bosque, la naturaleza. La lectura ha sido preciosa, pero no es el tipo de libro que me entretenga; no es el tipo de libro para mí. Aún así salgo enamorada (más) del otoño. Qué gran estación.