08 June 2013

A few nights on Egdon

Spent this week 'jarring in deepest Wessex.

"The heaven being spread with this pallid screen and the earth with the darkest vegetation, their meeting-line at the horizon was clearly marked. In such contrast the heath wore the appearance of an instalment of night which had taken up its place before its astronomical hour was come: darkness had to a great extent arrived hereon, while day stood distinct in the sky. [...] The face of the heath by its mere complexion added half an hour to evening; it could in like manner retard the dawn,... "

"... precisely at this transitional point of its nightly roll into darkness the great and particular glory of the Egdon waste began [...]. It could best be felt when it could not clearly be seen, its complete effect and explanation lying in this and the succeeding hours before the next dawn; then, and only then, did it tell its true tale. The spot was, indeed, a near relation of night, and when night showed itself an apparent tendency to gravitate together could be perceived in its shades and the scene. The sombre stretch of rounds and hollows seemed to rise and meet the evening gloom in pure sympathy, the heath exhaling darkness as rapidly as the heavens precipitated it. And so the obscurity in the air and the obscurity in the land closed together in a black fraternization towards which each advanced halfway." ~ The Return of the Native, Robert [D'oh!] Thomas Hardy.

What he said.

3 comments:

Andy Brandt said...

That would be Thomas Hardy.

Yes, I'm stronger with Wessex writers than I am with mergansers.

Darryl said...

Oh yeah! Ha! I'm going to pretend that was an intentional 'All Things Great and Small' reference.

Nice recovery sir.

Why thank you.

Darryl said...

Hold up! It's taken 22 days for somebody to notice that glaring typo. Twenty-two days! That shows a frankly scandalous lack of attention to detail.

Well,... I'm willing to let it slide this time but don't let it happen again.