Seasonal Delights: The Writing of Summer

Summertime inspires an appreciation of beauty, warmth, and companionship. EUGENE_PHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

Summer is traditionally a time for repose and reflection, basking in the serenity of nature, and enjoying the company of family and friends.

Many of the best authors of classic works have written about all that summer has to offer. Perhaps reading these will not only inspire you as summer unfolds but also be somewhat therapeutic and uplifting.

Poems of Summer

With the following much-beloved first line, Shakespeare sets the standard for beautiful writing and sentiments about the season of summer.

William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18”:

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”

And in this Emily Brontë poem, the idea of “sweet thoughts” traversing through the movements of nature is particularly enchanting.

Emily Brontë, “Moonlight, summer moonlight”:

“'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight, All soft and still and fair; The solemn hour of midnight Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere,

But most where trees are sending Their breezy boughs on high, Or stooping low are lending A shelter from the sky.

And there in those wild bowers A lovely form is laid; Green grass and dew-steeped flowers Wave gently round her head.”

Prose of Summer

One of summer’s delights is indeed basking in moonlight after the heat of the day has gone. Thomas Hardy continues to celebrate the moon here.

Thomas Hardy, “Far From the Madding Crowd”:

“It was nearly midnight, and the crescent moon was shining brightly in the clear sky. The summer night was sweet with the fragrance of new hay, and the meadows lay like a golden sea in the silvery light. The distant hills, softened by the haze of summer, seemed to sleep in a blue dream, and the air was filled with the low, sweet music of the night. In the stillness, the murmur of a distant stream and the occasional call of a night bird were the only sounds that broke the quiet of the summer night.”

While “Tom Sawyer” is not generally read for its descriptions of the natural world, the following paints a joyful and uplifting picture of the season.

Mark Twain, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”:

“Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust-trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.”

It seems there are few historical writers who love nature more than John Muir. Although his writing below may lie outside the realm of classic literature, his observations and reflections on the season are simply too heartfelt and awe-inspiring to not share. Indeed, if you read more of his “My First Summer in the Sierra,” you may find that his writing brings tears.

John Muir, “My First Summer in the Sierra”:

“These blessed mountains are so compactly filled with God’s beauty, no petty personal hope or experience has room to be. Drinking this champagne-water is pure pleasure, so is breathing the living air, and every movement of limbs is pleasure, while the whole body seems to feel beauty when exposed to it as it feels the campfire or sunshine, entering not by the eyes alone, but equally through all one’s flesh, like radiant heat, making a passionate ecstatic pleasure-glow not explainable. One’s body then seems homogeneous throughout, sound as a crystal.

“Perched like a fly on this Yosemite dome, I gaze and sketch and bask, oftentimes settling down into dumb admiration without definite hope of ever learning much, yet with the longing, unresting effort that lies at the door of hope, humbly prostrate before the vast display of God’s power, and eager to offer self-denial and renunciation with eternal toil to learn any lesson in the divine manuscript.” L.M. Montgomery’s description in the following is something we can all hope for this summer, but, as she notes, such summers “come seldom into any life.” Nevertheless, it is nice to dream about.

L.M. Montgomery, “Anne’s House of Dreams”:

“All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer—one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going—one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.”

May this summer bring you serenity, companionship, or solitude as you wish, and inspiration from the profound creation that is nature.