- whitnounChapter 1 →
The smallest possible amount or degree. Here it means the scene was not even the tiniest bit less beautiful and peaceful than the clouds above it.
“No whit less still and lonely fair / Than the high cloudlets in the sky”
- cloudletsnounChapter 1 →
Small, wispy clouds. The diminutive form suggests they are delicate and scattered lightly across the sky rather than large or dramatic.
“No whit less still and lonely fair / Than the high cloudlets in the sky”
- mistieradjectiveChapter 1 →
Less distinct and harder to make out, as if fading into a haze with distance. Here it describes how the birdsong grows more blurred and indistinct the farther away it comes from.
“Close by, and round him, mistier, / Farther and farther, all the birds”
- haycocksnounChapter 1 →
Small, cone-shaped piles of freshly cut hay left in a field to dry before being gathered. They are a traditional feature of a summer farming landscape.
- meadowsweetnounChapter 1 →
A wild flowering plant with clusters of creamy-white, sweet-smelling blossoms that grows in damp meadows and along riverbanks in England.
- willowsnounChapter 1 →
Tall trees with long, drooping branches that typically grow beside rivers and streams in the English countryside.
- unwontedlyadverbChapter 1 →
In an unusual or unexpected way; not in the normal or customary manner. The train stopped in a way that was out of the ordinary.
- bareadjectiveChapter 1 →
Empty and without activity or people. Used to describe the platform at Adlestrop, which had no passengers waiting or moving about.
AdlestropShort story by Edward Thomas