An Evergreen topic in British classical literature, children’s poems and everyday speech: patterns of climate in the British isles (стр. 2 из 2)
* * *
It’s snowing, it’s snowing
What a lot of snow
Let us make some snowballs,
We all like to throw.
It’s snowing, it’s snowing,
Let us sledge and ski!
When I’m dashing down the hill
Clear the way for me!
* * *
Down comes the snow on a winter day.
I make a snow-man when I go to play.
* * *
It’s winter, it’s winter,
Let us skate and ski!
It’s winter, it’s winter,
It’s great fun for me!
* * *
Sing a song of a winter,
Be happy and gay,
Dance around the snow-man,
Come out and play.
Spring begins in March but May is one of the driest months, especially in eastern and central England; however, April is drier in parts of the west and north. April and especially May are the favorite in English poetry: “April, April, laugh thy girlish laughter; then, the moment after weep thy girlish tears!” (William Watson);
“O, how this spring of love resembles the uncertain glory of an April day” (William Shakespeare);
“And after April, when May follows and the hedge leans to the field and scatters on the clover …” (Robert Browning).
And the children’s rhymes say: “March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers”.
* * *
March brings breezes,
Loud and shrill
To stir the dancing daffodil.
* * *
April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.
* * *
April weather
Rain and sunshine both together.
* * *
May brings flocks of pretty lambs.
Skipping by their fleecy dams.
* * *
Come to the woods on a sunny day,
Come to the woods some day in May.
Look at the grass, at the busy bees,
Look at the birds in the green, green trees.
All people are waiting for summer beginning in June. On average, June is the driest month all over Britain. On average, July is normally the warmest month inland, while on the coast August is equally warm and the sea temperature is at its maximum. In July and August the sea is warm enough for bathing on the south coast. July temperatures fall from south to north and increase from the coast inland.
Summer time is a time for play;
We are happy all the day.
The sun is shining all day long.
The trees are full of birds and song.
* * *
This is the season when nights are short.
And children have plenty of fun and sport.
Boating and swimming all day long
Will make us well and strong.
* * *
Along the south coast, temperatures do not fall substantially until late September, and the summer sunshine totals are generally highest in this area. September is the first autumn month which brings more rain than summer months. It is September when British children begin going to school. But the wettest months are October and December with dark evenings and misty mornings: “I saw old autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence” (Thomas Hood);
There are twelve months in a year,
From January to December.
The finest month of all the twelve
Is the merry month September.
* * *
Autumn is the season
When apples are sweet.
It is the season
When school-friends meet;
When noisy and gay,
And browned by the sun
With their books and bags
To school they run.
* * *
What a rainy season!
The sky is dark and grey.
No sunshine anymore!
No playing out of doors.
However, in any particular year almost any month can prove the wettest and the differences between months are not great.
There is a very good poem about months:
January comes with frost and snow
February brings us winds that blow,
March has winds and happy hours,
April brings us sun and showers,
Pretty is the mouth of May,
June has flowers, sweet and gay
July begins our holiday,
August sends us all away,
September takes us back to school,
October days begin to cool,
November brings the leaves to Earth;
December dying sees the birth of the New Year and all its mirth.
So, all months are special and have their own features. That’s why, a lot of writers like to describe them in their poetry and prose.
The theme of the weather in everyday speech
Still, the weather is so changeable that the British often say that they have no climate but only weather. Therefore, it is natural for them to use the comparison “as changeable as the weather” of a person who often changes his mood or opinion about something. The weather is the favorite topic of conversations in the UK.
So, according to Samuel Johnson, an outstanding English lexicographer, critic, author and conversationalist, “when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather”. A lot of conversational idioms and set expressions about weather can be found in novels by English writers, some examples will suffice:
- Good evening, Mr. Hunter. Rather cold weather for the time of year, isn’t it?
- Yes- I suppose it is. Have you got a Mr. Arden staying here? (Agatha Christie);
* * *
- “Such a lovely morning”, said Mrs. Marchmond brightly. “All my early tulips are out. Are yours?” The girl stared at her vacantly.
- “I don’t know”. What was one to do, thought Adela, with someone who didn’t talk gardening or dogs – these standbys of rural conversation? (ibid);
- The weather is very delightful just now, is it not?” – “A St. Martin’s summer” (ibid);
- “Hullo, hullo, hullo, here I am. Good afternoon, good afternoon. What a lovely day, what? Shall I sit here? Right ho”. (Pelham Grenville Wodehouse)
* * *
- Morning, he said.
- Morning, - Nice weather.
- Beautiful (ibid). (Bernard Shaw)
The weather is the favorite conversational topic in England. People talk about the weather more in Britain than in most parts of the world. When two Englishmen meet their first words will be “how are you?” and after the reply “very well, thank you. How are you? ”. The next remark is almost certain to be about the weather. When they go abroad the English often surprise people of other nationalities by this tendency to talk about the weather, a topic of conversation that other people do not find so interesting.
So, talking about the weather is always an interesting, exciting subject for British people and you must be good at talking about it. It is a part of polite conversations which may be extremely short:
- Good morning, Mr. Brown
- Good morning, Mr. Dickson. How do you like the weather today?
- Isn’t it awful?
- Yes, it’s been pouring since yesterday morning and the outlook is not very promising.
* * *
- Good afternoon, Mrs. Collins, nice day, isn’t it?
- Oh, yes, just lovely, I believe it’s a bit colder than yesterday.
- Yes, the mist has cleared but the weather forecast says it will be snowing later in the day.
* * *
- Hello, Charles
- Hello, Dick. Lovely day, isn’t it?
- Absolutely wonderful, nice and warm. What is the weather forecast for tomorrow? Do you know?
- Yes, it says it will be bright and sunny
- How nice. Good bye.
* * *
- Nice day, isn’t it?
- Isn’t it beautiful!
- The sun…
- Isn’t it wonderful?
- Yes, wonderful, isn’t it?
- It’s so nice and hot.
- I think it’s so nice when it’s hot, isn’t it?
- I really love it, don’t you?
* * *
- Terrible day, isn’t it?
- Isn’t it unpleasant?
- The rain … I don’t like the rain.
- Just I think – a day like this is July. It rains in the morning, then a bit of sun and then rain, rain, rain all day.
- I remember the same July day in 1936…
- Yes, I remember too.
- Or was it 1928?
- Yes it was.
- Or in 1939?
- Yes, that’s right.
* * *
- It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?
- Yes, isn’t the day fine?
- The sun … not a cloud in the sky…
- It’s so nice and warm.
- Isn’t it wonderful?
Although the last two conversations are humorous, one must follow a very important rule: you must always agree with other people when you talk about the weather. If it is raining and snowing and the wind is knocking down trees, and someone says “nice day, isn’t it?” one usually answers “isn’t it wonderful?”
There are a lot of jokes and stories about the British weather in common use. A good example of English humor is the following story:
“A Londoner, who was going to the west of England for a holiday, arrived by train at a town and found that it was pouring with rain. He called a porter to carry his bags to a taxi. On the way out of the station, partly to make conversation and partly to get a local opinion about the weather prospects for his holiday, he asked the porter: “How long has it been raining like this?” – “I don’t know, sir, I have only been here for fifteen years”, was the reply.
One can also read lots of humorous stories about the British weather in books by Jerome K. Jerome:
“There you dream that an elephant has suddenly sat down on your chest, and that the volcano has exploded and thrown you down to the bottom of the sea – the elephant still sleeping peacefully on your bosom… Sometimes a westerly oily wind blew, and at other times an easterly oily wind, and sometimes it blew a northerly oily wind, and may be a southerly oily wind; but weather it came from the Arctic snows, or was raised in the waste of the desert sands. The rain is pouring steadily down all the time”.
But we must say that the British are very optimistic in spite of the weather which is very changeable.
When the weather is wet
We must not fret.
When the weather is cold
We must not scold.
When the weather is warm
We must not storm.
But be thankful together
Whatever the weather.
* * *
Whether the weather be fine,
Whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Whether the weather be not,
We’ll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.
So, all dialogues prove our hypothesis because people often talk and discuss the weather. One must follow a very important rule: you always must agree with other people when you talk about the weather. It’s a part of polite conversations.
The results of our research
To support or disapprove our hypothesis we have studied such books as “Pygmalion” by Bernard Shaw, “Three men in a boat to nothing say about the dog” by Jerome K. Jerome, “Stories for children” by Vera Colwell, Eileen Colwell and Leila Berg, “Easy English” by Vyborova, “The ABC fun” by Burlakova, “Tales from Shakespeare” by William Shakespeare and other literature.
We found out that in the “Stories for children” there are a lot of descriptions of different seasons and weather:
“How cold it was! The yard was white and smooth. Flakes of snow were falling” (Vera Colwell);
“Then one day spring came. Blue and white and yellow flowers came out in the garden, and the sun shone more warmly every day” (ibid);
“It was a bright, sunny day… (Leila Berg);
“One day it was raining. It rained and rained. Pete put on his raincoat with the hood, and his big wellingtons, and went outside to see what happening. It was a heavy rain. And it made great puddles in the street” (ibid);
“It had rained all night long. But now the sun was shining, and the wind was blowing all over the pavements, blowing the rain away. The pavements were white and clean where the wind had dried them” (ibid);
“It was a beautiful October morning. Everything was golden. The trees were golden in the sun, and the roads were gold” (ibid);
“It was springtime the birds were flying and new exciting things were happening every day” (ibid);
“It was a lovely hot day. The sun shone all the time. The children on the beach ran in and out of the warm water” (Eileen Colwell);
Also, we have found in the story “Three men in a boat to nothing say about the dog” by Jerome K. Jerome.
“Sometimes a westerly oily wind blew, and at other times an easterly oily wind, and sometimes it blew a northerly oily wind, and may be a southerly oily wind; but weather it came from the Arctic snows, or was raised in the waste of the desert sands. The rain is pouring steadily down all the time”;
Besides, we have found in the play “King Lear” some descriptions of seasons and weather, too:
“While he was threatening what his weak arm could never carry out, night fell, and a fearful storm of thunder, lighting and rain broke out”;
“The wind was high, and the rain and storm increased”;
“This dreadful storm has driven the beasts to their hiding places”;
More than that, we have found in the play “Pygmalion” by Bernard Shaw different descriptions of seasons and weather as well:
“It was raining…”
“I wonder will there be rain today? It’s a little cloudy in the western part of the British Isles; perhaps it will spread to the eastern part. The barometer though doesn’t assume of any substantial changes in the condition of atmosphere”;
“Still I hope that there will be no more frosts”;
“It has been cool since the morning, hasn’t it?”
So, all these descriptions of seasons and weather and mentioned before children’s poems, dialogues, excerpts from different works about seasons and months prove that our hypothesis is right. Therefore, the topic of the weather is the most interesting, most favourite and most often discussed topic in the British Isles.
Conclusion
In the conclusion we would like to say that
1) British climate has three main features: it is mild, humid and changeable. That means that it is never too hot or too cold. Winters are extremely mild. Snow may come but it melts quickly.
2) Each author builds his own world of nature with weather, scenery, hills, rivers and others.
3) There are a lot of children’s poems about seasons and weather.
4) In Great Britain the weather is always an interesting topic of the conversations.
Finally, we think that our work could be useful for teachers and schoolchildren because it contains a lot of poems. Also, it includes many descriptions of different seasons and weather.
The list of literature
climate season weather literature
1. Bernard Shaw “Pygmalion” Избранныепьесы. На английском языке. М.: “Менеджер”, 2006.
2. Jerome K. Jerome “Three men in a boat to say nothing of the dog” “ИздательствоВысшаяшкола”, 1976 (second edition, Moscow Higher School 1976).
3. Бурлакова А.П. “TheABCfun”, М.: "Просвещение", 1981.
4. ВасильеваИ.Б. “English Reader sixth form”, М.: "Просвещение", 1976.
5. Верещагина И.Н., Притыкина Т.А. “Onwego”, М.: "Просвещение",1994.
6. Верхогляд “Stories for Children”, М.: "Просвещение", 1991.
7. Выборова Г.Е., Махмурян К.С. “EasyEnglish”, М.: “Владос”, 1994.
8. Журнал "Иностранные языки в школе", №1, 1989; №5, 1990; № 2,5,6, 1996; №3, 1997; № 4, 2000; №6, 2002, № 3, 2003.
9. Костенко Г.Т. “Readerforsummer”, 1991, с изменениями “Просвещение”, 1981.
10. ЛэмЧ., ЛэмМ. “Tales from Shakespeare” (after Charles and Mary Lamb),/ АдаптацияК.В. Ингал.- М.: "Просвещение", 1984
11. Интернет
Supplement
Illustrations to the different seasons and weather
The most unpleasant aspect of British climate – fog
It’s a sunny day
It’s a nasty day
It’s a snowy day
It’s a rainy day
It’s a windy day
It’s spring
It’s summer
It’s autumn