Monday, November 18, 2013

Monday morsel: "dead leaves"

I've found that Jane Austen's novels are great bedtime reading material.  They're entertaining, but slow-moving enough to make me feel pleasantly drowsyzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

Sense and Sensibility is the one I'm re-reading right now.  In this scene, sisters Marianne and Elinor are reminiscing about the family estate that they had to leave after the death of their father.

(It suddenly occurs to me that Anne of Green Gables and Marianne Dashwood would be kindred spirits!)


“How does dear, dear Norland look?” cried Marianne.

“Dear, dear Norland,” said Elinor, “probably looks much as it always does at this time of the year. The woods and walks thickly covered with dead leaves.”

“Oh,” cried Marianne, “with what transporting sensation have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are seen only as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.”

“It is not every one,” said Elinor, “who has your passion for dead leaves.”


2 comments:

  1. I've always loved that line from Elinor about her sister's passion fro dead leaves! I think you're on to something with the kindred nature of Marianne's and Anne's spirits, too.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Tim. S&S has a lot of long conversations like this that don't seem to have made it into all the movie adaptations -- I guess they make for good reading but not good watching.

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