An Evergreen topic in British classical literature, children’s poems and everyday speech: patterns of climate in the British isles

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Секция: Английская филология

An Evergreen topic in British classical literature, children’s poems and everyday speech: patterns of climate in the British isles

Чайковский 2007

Introduction

The theme: “An evergreen topic in British classical literature, children’s poems and everyday speech: Patterns of climate in the British Isles”.

The topic of the weather is the most interesting and most often discussed topic in the British Isles because the weather is very changeable there. A fine morning can change into a wet afternoon and evening. And a nasty morning can change to a fine afternoon. That’s why it’s natural for the British to use the comparison as changeable as the weather “of a person who often changes his mood or opinion about something”. “Other countries have "climate, in Britain we have weather". This statement is often made by the British to describe the meteorological conditions of their country.

Many British authors describe British weather in their books and poems. And what’s more there are a lot of poems for children about seasons and weather.

The aim of our work is to present a short survey of the average weather conditions in the British Isles and to show how these conditions are reflected in British classical literature, in children’s poems and in everyday speech.

The goals are:

1) to describe the UK climate

2) to describe seasons and months and to show their descriptions in British literature and children’s poems

3) to present the British climate as a favourite topic of conversations

Hypothesis: we expect that the topic of the weather is the most interesting, most favourite and most often discussed topic in the British Isles. That’s why, many British authors describe British weather in their books and poems.

While working at the topic, we used different classical literature, textbooks, and children’s poems which helped us to describe the weather in different seasons, months and everyday speech.

The description of the UK climate and factors which influence the climate of Britain

The climate in the UK is generally mild and temperate due to the influence of the Gulf Stream.

In England the climate is mild, temperate, soft and damp thanks to the warmth of washing it seas. The average temperature is about 11˚C in the south and 9˚C in the north-east. The warmest month is July and the coldest is January. The average July temperature in London is about 11-17˚C, the average January temperature is about 3-7˚C. The north-eastern region is the coldest in England whereas the south-east and the Westland are the warmest. The average rainfall is 600-750 mm. The largest part falls from September till January. Fogs are frequent there.

The climate of Northern Ireland is mild and humid. In winter the waters of nearby sea influence the coastal regions. Inside the country there are rather low temperatures because of cold air downwards. The average temperature is about 10˚C. It’s about 14,5˚C in July and 4,5˚C in January. The Ireland is a little cloudier and wetter than England because of its hilly landscape. The quantity of rainfall in the north is more than 1016 mm a year, in the south it is about 760 mm a year.

Scotland is the coldest region in the UK, although the climate is rather mild. The average January temperature is about 3˚C, it often snows in the mountains in the north. The average July temperature is about 15˚C. The largest rainfall is on the west of the Highlands (about 3810 mm), less in some eastern regions (about 635 mm a year). Sometimes it rains more than 240 days a year.

The climate of Wales is as mild and humid as in England. The average January temperature is 5,5˚C. The average July temperature is about 15,5˚C. The coldest places are distant from the Sea Shore. The average rainfall is 762 mm in the central coastal region and more than 2540 mm near Snow don.

So, rainfall is more or less even throughout the year. Annual rainfall decreases from west to east and increases with height. The highest parts of Britain, where rain falls two days out of three, receive mote than 100 inches. In East Anglia, rain falls only one day out of three and evaporation often exceeds rainfall. Elsewhere in Britain, rain falls about one day out of two.

One can see the considerable contrasts of climate within the comparatively small area of Britain. They are partly due to the elongated shape of the country. The pronounced regional contrasts are also due to Britain’s position between a great land mass and a vast ocean.

The climate of the western part of Britain is maritime in character (humid and cloudy), while eastern and south-eastern England have certain of Europe’s climatic attributes, including biting cold, wind and snow showers in winter.

“The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere” (Robert Browing);

“In winter, when the dismal rain comes down in slanting lines, and wind, that grand old harper, smote his thunder-harp pf pines…” (Alexander Smith);

“The winter’s rains and ruins are over, and all the season of snows and sins; the days dividing lover and lover, the light that loses, the night that wins” (Algernon Charles Swinburne).

In children’s rhymes one can also hear discontented notes about winter winds:

“Oh wind, why do you never rest?

Wandering, whistling to and fro?

Bringing rain out of the west

From the dim north bringing snow?”

* * *

“No one can tell me

Nobody knows

Where the wind comes from

Where the wind goes”

* * *

Oh, I want to know

What does the wind do?

Where does the wind go,

Mother, when it does not blow?

* * *

“What is it going to do today?

“Rain or snow?” the people say.

They look at the sky, all wooly grey,

And watch the way the wind is blowing –

And they suddenly know –

Because it’s snowing today!

* * *

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads

The wind is passing by.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling

The wind is passing through.

* * *

The south wind brings wet together,

The north wind wet and cold together,

The west wind always brings us rain,

The east wind blows it back again.

The climate is generally so raw above 1,700 feet that the scenery is reminiscent of the subarctic regions of Scandinavia.

Substantial differences in climate also occur within comparatively small areas. The sides of valleys receive more sunshine if they face south, and are therefore warmer, while valley bottoms act as reservoirs for cold air draining off the surrounding slopes, and are susceptible to frost and fog. Near the edge of large, deep lakes the extremes of climate are frequently moderated: on hot summer days the air is cooled as it blows over the water, while on cold nights the water provides a protection from frost.

So, the UK climate is mild and changeable due to the influence of many factors. Many poems about the weather prove it.

The description of different seasons in classical literature and children’s books

Time and place must both be considered in drawing generalizations about weather in the British Isles. Needless to say, that spring is the most favorite season. Poets and writers are very proud of spring:

“Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness!” (James Thomson);

“Now the north wind ceases, the warm south – west awakes, the heavens are out in fleeces, and earth’s green banner shakes” (George Meredith);

“Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, a box where sweets compacted lie” (George Herbert);

“And in green under wood and cover blossom by blossom the spring begins” (Algernon Charles Swinburne);

Spring is a wonderful time for children, too:

“Spring is coming, I can feel it,

How soft is the morning air!

Birds are singing, buds are peeping

Life and joy are everywhere!”

* * *

I’m happy, I’m happy!

I sing all day.

It’s spring, it’s spring again.

* * *

I like the sun,

I like the spring,

I like the birds

That fly and sing.

* * *

In the spring, in the spring

Sweet and fresh is everything.

* * *

“O spring, o spring,

You wonderful thing!

O spring, o spring

When the birds sing

I feel like a king; o spring!”

(Walter R. Books);

* * *

“Spring, the sweet spring,

Is the year’s pleasant king

Then blooms each thing,

Then maids dance in a ring,

Cold doth not sting,

The pretty birds do sing:

Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!”

(Thomas Mash);

* * *

“Cheep, cheep!” why do the birds sing?

“Cheep, cheep!” why do the birds sing?

“Cheep, cheep!” the birds all sing

“Cheep, cheep, cheep!” because it’s spring.

* * *

“In the spring time,

The only pretty ring time

When birds do sing,

Hey ding-a-ding, ding;

Sweet lovers love the spring”

(William Shakespeare);

* * *

Birds are in the tree-tops

Flying here and there,

Everything is growing,

Spring is everywhere.

Flowers are in the garden,

Butterflies are there

Flying round the blossoms,

Spring is everywhere.

* * *

The birds are returning,

Their songs fill the air.

And meadows are smiling

With blossoms so fair.

* * *

When the earth is turned in spring,

The worms are fat as anything.

And birds come flying all around

To eat the worms right off the ground.

They like worms just as much as I

Like bred, and milk, and apple pie.

Summer and early autumn are fine and bright; the most ancient song that appears with its musical notes attached (about 1250) glorifies the coming of summer:

“Summer is icumen in – lhude sing cuccu! Groweth sed, and bloweth med, and springth the wudu nu – sing cuccu!” (Modern version: “summer has come in – sing loud, cuckoo! The seed grows and the meadow flowers, and now the wood is in leaf – sing cuckoo!”).

Children are very glad when summer comes: “Come over, for the bee has quit the clover, and your English summer’s done” (Rudyard Kipling);

“The swallows are making them ready to fly, wheeling out on a windy sky; good-bye, summer, good-bye, good-bye” (George Whyle-Melville);

* * *

Come, my children, come away

For the sun shines bright today.

Little children, come with me

Birds and trees and flowers to see!

* * *

Ger your hats and come away,

For it is a pleasant day.

* * *

Let us make a merry ring,

Talk and laugh, and dance and sing!

Quickly, quickly come away,

For it is a pleasant day!

* * *

Summer’s here!

Days are long, and the sun

Is high and strong.

Long live, summer!

Golden-bright,

Full of warmth

And sweet delight!

In autumn and winter fog is most frequent, particularly over the low-lying parts of the Midlands, where cold air gathers in hollows, and in the polluted parts of cities. Fogs are densest when skies are clear and winds light, they are therefore less common in coastal regions and in the Highlands, where autumn and winter winds are strong. There are melancholy notes in the descriptions of autumn and winter months: “No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, no comfortable feel in any member – no shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, no fruits, no flowers, no leaves, and no birds – November!” (Thomas Hood);

In one of his letters Rudyard Kipling writes: “Never again will I spend another winter in this accursed bucket shop of a refrigerator called England”.

George Gordon Byron sarcastically remarks in “Don Juan”: “In England winter – ending in July, to recommence in August”.

Such attitudes to winter may be found in many poetical works: “Fear no more the heat o’the sun, nor the furious winter’s rages” (William Shakespeare);

“O wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” (Percy Bysshe Shelley);

Children’s poems about autumn are rather sad:

Flowers are happy in summer

In autumn they die and are blown away

Dry and withered,

Their petals dance in the wind

Like little brown butterflies”

(L. Hughes)

* * *

“Come, little leaves”, said the wind one day.

“Come over the meadows with me and play

Put on your dresses of red and gold,

For summer is gone and days are cold”.

* * *

This is the season when days are cool,

When we eat apples and go to school.

And some poems about winter:

In winter time we go

Walking in the fields of snow;

Where there is no grass at all;

Where the top of every wall,

Every house and every tree

Is as white, as white can be.

And our footprints in the snow

Where the children go.

* * *

Skating, skating,

Boys and girls so gay

Like to skate together

On a winter day.

Rain is a familiar feature of the British climate in any season English literature:

“Lord, this is a huge rain! This was a weather to sleep in!” (Geoffey Chaucer);

“All day the low-hung clouds have dropped their garnered fullness down; all day that soft gray mist hath wrapped hill, valley, grove and town” (Caroline Southey);

“I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, from the seas and the streams” (Percy Bysshe Shelley);

“Oft a little morning rain foretells a pleasant day” (Charlotte Bronte).

There are lots of children’s poems about rain:

The sun is shining.

Flowers are blooming.

The sky is blue

And rains are few.

* * *

“Rain, rain go to Spain,

Never show your face again”

* * *

Rain, rain go away,

Come again another day,

Little Johny wants to play.

* * *

Rain on the green grass,

And rain on the tree,

Rain