Be with the two in childhood -- autumn gardens and poetry -- and the chances are good you will carry their enchantments throughout your life. To wit, Vita Sackville-West wrote on October 15, 1950, this:
The autumn garden. . . . It has its beauty; especially, perhaps, a garden with an old orchard attached to it. When I was very small, about four years old, I suppose, a line of poetry entered into my consciousness, never to leave it again:
Rye pappels drop about my head.
I had no idea what rye pappels might be, but they held a magic, an enchantment for me, and when in later life I identified them as the ripe apples of Andrew Marvell’s poem they had lost nothing of their enchantment in the process of growing up.
(Quoted from page 131 of In Your Garden, by V. Sackville-West. Oxenwood Press, 1996; first published in 1951.)
For a brief biography of Vita Sackville-West, click here. For images of or relating to Vita Sackville-West, click here.
A garden surrounds the Saunterer’s house, and already autumn is busy working its magic. This post is partly because of this, and partly because Jan Johnsen, who has posted on The Saunterer, is dedicated to reminding us all of the tranquilizing capacity gardens have (far more natural and healthier than drugs). To visit Jan’s weblog -- Serenity in the Garden -- click here.
The autumn garden. . . . It has its beauty; especially, perhaps, a garden with an old orchard attached to it. When I was very small, about four years old, I suppose, a line of poetry entered into my consciousness, never to leave it again:
Rye pappels drop about my head.
I had no idea what rye pappels might be, but they held a magic, an enchantment for me, and when in later life I identified them as the ripe apples of Andrew Marvell’s poem they had lost nothing of their enchantment in the process of growing up.
(Quoted from page 131 of In Your Garden, by V. Sackville-West. Oxenwood Press, 1996; first published in 1951.)
For a brief biography of Vita Sackville-West, click here. For images of or relating to Vita Sackville-West, click here.
A garden surrounds the Saunterer’s house, and already autumn is busy working its magic. This post is partly because of this, and partly because Jan Johnsen, who has posted on The Saunterer, is dedicated to reminding us all of the tranquilizing capacity gardens have (far more natural and healthier than drugs). To visit Jan’s weblog -- Serenity in the Garden -- click here.
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