The Singular Wonder of October
“October is the month of painted leaves,” Thoreau wrote in 1862. “Their rich glow now flashes round the world.”
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This time last year, I revisited an 1862 Atlantic article in which Henry David Thoreau argued that autumn wasn’t getting enough attention. At the time, I noted that fall didn’t exactly seem to be slipping from public consciousness—a trip to Starbucks makes that clear enough. But this season, I’m wondering whether Thoreau had a point. Perhaps because of the increase in extreme weather around the world, or the sheer volume of other news to keep track of right now, my own personal circles aren’t as full of chatter about apple picking or foliage as they once were.
Today I’m joining Thoreau in making the case for fall. In his exploration of the changing colors of leaves, Thoreau makes an observation that has stuck with me: “As fruits and leaves and the day itself acquire a bright tint just before they fall, so the year near its setting,” he writes. “October is its sunset sky; November the later twilight.” Maybe autumn’s red hue can brighten the year that was, helping us take stock of some of the joy and wonder within it.
On Fall
Fall Is in the Air: Images of the Season
By Alan TaylorA collection of images of autumn—the best season
Autumnal Tints
By Henry David Thoreau
“A great many, who have spent their lives in cities, and have never chanced to come into the country at this season, have never seen this, the flower, or rather the ripe fruit, of the year.”
How Starbucks Perfected Autumn
By Ian Bogost
The pumpkin spice latte has defined fall for 20 years.
Still Curious?
- Why leaves change color: Those brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows? They're preparations for a hungry winter, Megan Garber wrote in 2015.
- “An autumn walk”: “Leaves lie down so lightly dead / That they are neither there nor here / And I remain alive instead / Along the year,” Witter Bynner writes in this 1958 poem.
Other Diversions
- The elite college students who can’t read books
- What’s the appeal of indie rock’s new golden boy?
- The White Sox even lost at losing.
P.S.
I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. “After several days of rain, my husband was taking his usual walk through our neighborhood when he spotted this flowerlike mushroom that had sprouted in an ordinary pile of leaves,” Debbie Stone, 71, from Charlottesville, Virginia, writes. “It awed us by its beauty in drab colors and its happy mix of fungus and flora!”
I’ll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks.
— Isabel
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