Fog everywhere. Fog up the river where it flows among green airs and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city.... Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds.
Interpretation
The quote describes a pervasive fog that envelops both nature and urban life, symbolizing uncertainty and the blending of environments.
In this quote, Charles Dickens vividly illustrates the omnipresence of fog, which not only obscures visibility but also creates a mysterious atmosphere that merges the natural landscape with urban elements. The fog serves as a metaphor for uncertainty and the blurring of boundaries, inviting contemplation on how different environments coexist and the emotions they invoke in people experiencing them.
In practice
In a speech about environmental change, one might use this quote to illustrate the impact of urban pollution on natural scenery.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
Water is the one substance from which the earth can conceal nothing; it sucks out its innermost secrets and brings them to our very lips.
Some days in late August at home are like this, the air thin and eager like this, with something in it sad and nostalgic and familiar.
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
The soil of their native land is dear to all the hearts of mankind.
That's the thing about Mother Nature, she really doesn't care what economic bracket you're in.
Nothing on earth is so weak and yielding as water, but for breaking down the firm and strong it has no equal.
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