Under the Greenwood Tree

By

Thomas Hardy

QUOTATION: That man’s silence is wonderful to listen to.
ATTRIBUTION: Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), British novelist, poet. Spinks, in Under the Greenwood Tree, pt. 2, ch. 5 (1872).

QUOTATION: On Thursday morning
going through the quiet woods
it is not Thursday.
To dwellers in a wood almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature. At the passing of the breeze the fir-trees sob and moan no less distinctly than they rock; the holly whistles as it battles with itself; the ash hisses amid its quiverings; the beech rustles while its flat boughs rise and fall. And winter, which modifies the note of such trees as shed their leaves, does not destroy its individuality.
ATTRIBUTION: Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), British novelist, poet. Under the Greenwood Tree, ch. 1 (1872).