As I’m driving down the back-roads of Bowdoinham, Maine in the most beautiful season of the year, the leaves are changing colors and floating to the ground like slightly weighed-down feathers. It’s autumn. But, I have never taken the time to wonder how the leaves change colors and fall from the trees. Diana Ackerman describes this process perfectly by explaining each step specifically. However, no matter how beautiful the process of the leaves changing colors, Ackerman believes that the leaves colors “don’t seem to have any purpose” (440). Which she then compares to the significance of the changing colors of flowers and animals. Nearing summer’s end, trees start to take back the nutrients from the leaves that it’s provided all season
It was a spring afternoon in West Florida. Janie had spent most of the day under a blossoming pear tree in the back-yard. She had been spending every minute that she could steal from her chores under that tree for the last three days. That was to say, ever since the first tiny bloom had opened. It had called her to come and gaze on a mystery. From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom. It stirred her tremendously. How? Why? It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again.
After several miles of tromping through the thick, slimy mud, I reached the hill with the tree upon it. Panting, I raced towards the hill and begin to climb it. My foot slid on the slick ground, but I persevered. I reached the top of the hill and felt disappointed. Trees were supposed to be surrounded by other plants and teeming with wildlife. Not this tree. The mud I trudged through covered the hill, coating the tree’s roots. There were no other plants. In fact, as I looked around, I noticed tha...
Beauty can be defined in many ways. Though, regardless of its definition, beauty is confined by four characteristics: symmetry, health, vibrancy and complexity. Michael Pollan, in the book The Botany of Desire, examines our role in nature. Pollan sets out to discovery why the most beautiful flowers have manipulated animals into propagating its genes. Most people believe that humans are the sole domesticators of nature, although, beauty in some sense has domesticated us by making us select what we perceive as beautiful. In flowers, for example, the most attractive ones insure their survival and reproductive success; therefore the tulip has domesticated us in the same way by insuring its reproduction. Whether it is beauty or instinct humans have toward flowers they have nevertheless domesticated us.
2008). In this experiment, two deciduous tree species, speckled alder (Alnus incana ssp. rugosa) and white birch (Betula papyrifera), dominant in the lowland and highland ecosystems respectively, will be compared and contrasted in terms of their decomposition rate, leaf senescence, leaf herbivory, arthropod presence, soil characteristics, and microclimate. In other words, how do the abiotic and biotic interactions of an ecosystem influence the decomposition rate of leaf litter in said ecosystem, and how does it compare to another, different ecosystem over the course of early to later fall? This question is of importance as it has ramifications for the functioning and interconnectedness of ecosystems around the world (Smith and Smith 2015). To investigate this phenomenon in action, the leaves from both tree species will be will be placed in their native habitat ecosystems as well as in the respective other to determine their decomposition rate and the degree to which the surrounding environment influences said decomposition. The highland ecosystem is noticeably more dry and rocky, with lower plant density and uneven topography than the lowland site – which is considerably more moist, muddy (i.e. wetland) and has a greater plant density than the highland. In leaf herbivory, the leaf damage caused by insect guilds is investigated to observe differences and changes between the two tree species over a period of time. Leaf senescence, the purposeful re-allocation of foliage nutrients to the plant body in preparation for winter, is studied in respect to the changing in the colour and appearance of leaves over the course of the experiment (Smith and Smith 2015). In addition, arthropod pitfall traps are used to characterize and compare the different species of arthropods and other organisms present within each
In John Updike’s poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, he uses diction and figurative speech to depict the beautiful autumn season to show how inspiring and uplifting nature is to man. Updike chooses autumn as the season to set his story in because generally, it is the season that has the most vivid vibrant colors in nature such as the ripe apples which are described as “red fish in the nets (limbs)”. (Line 3) Updike paints the picture of the beauty of nature with the simile about the apples to show the reader what a powerful effect nature has on man. Updike goes on to discuss the elm trees that were “swaying in the sky” (Line 7) and the “dramatic straggling v’s” of geese. Updike uses these descriptive portrayals of na...
But he pits the experience of human volition against natural processes in saying that swinging does not keep the branches down. Naturally, children don’t swing with the intention of imposing their volition upon a branch; rather, Frost is creating a metaphorical tension between the implications of human will and the balance of nature, which is commonly regarded as static. Although nature is static, the ...
When thinking about nature, Hans Christian Andersen wrote, “Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” John Muir and William Wordsworth both expressed through their writings that nature brought them great joy and satisfaction, as it did Andersen. Each author’s text conveyed very similar messages and represented similar experiences but, the writing style and wording used were significantly different. Wordsworth and Muir express their positive and emotional relationships with nature using diction and imagery.
Imagine someone looking to their right, and being met with the sight of a beautiful meadow, flowers swaying from the soft breeze of the clear blue sky, the sun shining brightly in the distance. Said someone widens their eyes, and concentrates hard on their surroundings, to the point where it feels like they’re one with nature. Now suddenly, the scene changes, as the person is now, this time around, turning to their left, and seeing a dark, gloomy, night sky, dead plants and birds littered across the dirty path ahead. Would they feel any different? Similar to this figurative situation, the short story “The Birds”, by Daphne du Maurier perfectly captures how the use of imagery affects human emotions. Her descriptive language regarding the weather,
Imagine walking down an ancient path amidst a forest of tangled and twisted trees, some of which have existed since before a time even great grandparents can remember. The air echoes with sounds of life, and the fragrance is that of cedar or juniper… or something not quite either. The living things that dwell here, bridge a gap in time that many are totally unaware of and for the reasons about to be explained, may never become so. The beauty that surrounds this place is unexplainable in the tongue of man, yet its presence can be felt by all who choose to behold it. At least for now…
In "Kew Gardens," the narrator follows different visitors to the gardens, giving the reader brief snapshots of their lives through small descriptions as they reach the same flowerbed. The story begins with a description of the oval-shaped flowerbed. The flowers are red, yellow, and blue. They have petals that are heart or tongue shaped. As the petals fall to the ground, they stain the earth with these colors for a moment. Petals from the flowers soar through the sky in the summer breeze. The flowers' colors flash in the air. On this July day, men, women, and children walk through the gardens. As the people move through the gardens, their movements resemble butterflies. They zigzag in all directions to get a better view of the flowers.
The background setting of most of Chopin's stories is the Creole culture of southern Louisiana. Southern Louisiana was far more French than American as a large portion of the culture was Creole -- those being the descendants of French and Spanish colonists.
The fleeting changes that often accompany seasonal transition are especially exasperated in a child’s mind, most notably when the cool crisp winds of fall signal the summer’s end approaching. The lazy routine I had adopted over several months spent frolicking in the cool blue chlorine soaked waters of my family’s bungalow colony pool gave way to changes far beyond the weather and textbooks. As the surrounding foliage changed in anticipation of colder months, so did my family. My mother’s stomach grew larger as she approached the final days of her pregnancy and in the closing hours of my eight’ summer my mother gently awoke me from the uncomfortable sleep of a long car ride to inform of a wonderful surprise. No longer would we be returning to the four-story walk up I inhabited for the majority of my young life. Instead of the pavement surrounding my former building, the final turn of our seemingly endless journey revealed the sprawling grass expanse of a baseball field directly across from an unfamiliar driveway sloping in front of the red brick walls that eventually came to be know as home.
Following this the leaves are being described as sweeping across the room. The scene is made clearer by being compared to the way the leaves flew from the branches of the hemlocks of above, quickly down to the ground below. "Just as they flew from the boughs of the hemlocks." (Stevens 68) Once again a cry by the peacocks is heard. This time the reason for it is given. Their cry being caused by either the leaves, or a cry against the twilight. At this point is seems as though the reason would lie more within the twilight than simply the leaves falling and moving about. At this point it may begin to be considered as a period of uncertainty, or decline in some form, before the following day is on its way.
The sunless sky covered the woods over the treetops which created a canopy over my head. The crimson and auburn foliage was a magnificent sight, as this was the season known as Fall. There was a gentle breeze, creating the single sound of rustling leaves. The leaves appeared as though they were dying to fall out of the tree and join their companions on the forest floor. Together with pine needles and other flora the leaves formed a thick springy carpet for me to walk upon.
Berger claims, “beauty is always an exception, always in despite of. This is why it moves us”, because there is rarely a glimpse of beauty in the harsh distain of nature, when there is a moment where the clouds clear and the sun peaks through, it moves us (82). Berger calls this the “aesthetic emotion”. It is difficult to explain in words, but is an emotion grounded deeply in all humans. Think about the sunrise, or a waterfall, or even something as simple as a flower. That warmth in your chest? That’s the aesthetic emotion. It is hope for a brighter future and, as the villagers who hang the white birds in their kitchens and chapels during long and cold winters; it is a reminder of summer and brighter days