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Do you feel this romanticizing melancholy of Autumn?

Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
in Wildlife gardening
As you maybe know, I'm German. I noticed in my first Autumn in England that Winter is almost as green as Spring.
In Germany, most areas turn very grey and dark in November. Trees have no leaves and are just dark stems. The grass is no longer green, and is covered with leaves and ideally, it rains all the time. The world changes to black and white (or grey) literally.

I like to read other people blogs and have got a good collection of German and English speaking blogs.
I noticed again this year a general mood of romanticizing melancholy in German blogs. November is the classical month when the German soul becomes "schwermütig" what my online dictionary translates with lugubrious, haunting, heavy-hearted, melancholy, gloomy, melancholic, soulful. They romanticise and philosophise about life and sense of life to cope with the sadness that overcomes them in November.

I have never noticed this here, but I might be wrong.

I ♥ my garden.

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  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    edited November 2022
    Many thanks, @pansyface. Would you both turn on heavy music like Wagner? I always had the impression in Germany that November is the month when opera houses and philharmonic orchestras make most of the money with playing the darkest pieces of Wagner and Beethoven. I'm getting sarcastic, sorry.

    The November melancholy in Germany is an aftermath of the events around Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna with its territorial redesign of the middle part of Europe. The basics were laid for what later became the German Reich as a state out of many single states. It was Wagner who was in the center of this German mood of sadness and romanticism.


    I ♥ my garden.

  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Guten morgen Simone.

    Although I live in a sunny region that feeling of melancholy certainly reigns at this time of the year.  After a "golden" october, the atmosphere descends to grey skies and a stillness in the air.  We've just had about two weeks of continuous grey skies.  When we have wind, the following day is usually sunny - or almost.  We are lucky not to have the low temperatures that you have "up there" !!  Dropping slowly, we had 10°C this morning, the sun is up and hopefully a high this afternoon of between 18°C and 20°C.  

    Yes, autumn is a melancholy time.
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    Many thanks, @tui34.

    November is the time I look on timeanddate for the positive outlook, and found this interesting new aspect: The day when the sun comes out at 7:07, we have already 1 hour more daylight.

    Today, the sunrise is 7:07
    5.11     07:07  (115°)    16:33  (245°)  daylight time:  9:25:20

    To have the equal morning light, this would be in 15 weeks and 5 days or 3,5 months
    22.2.    07:07  (106°)    17:34 (255°)  daylight time:  10:26:26

    On the other side, the day with the equal day time and degree of sun position, this is in exactly 3 months time.
    6.2.    07:37 (115°)    17:04  (246°)  daylight time:   9:27:01




    I ♥ my garden.

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    What a great question! The best place to go for an answer is British poetry where you will find sweet melancholy, season of mists and fruitfulness, right through to gloom and doom, as in 'November'. There's kicking through the fallen leaves and lamentations for summer ease; the joy of crisp, bright mornings and grumbles about darkness of weather and soul. It's all there to be enjoyed or regretted, according to your outlook. I love autumn, it's my favourite time of year and I'm so glad people who can write have recorded its many- facetted (sp?) nature!
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    OH lived his early life in the southern hemisphere. He always gets the November blues when the clocks go back. It affects me less, having an already melancholic Irish turn of mind that expects rain, even in Summer.

    Certainly, there are some very melancholy English pieces of music about autumn

    The summer sun is fading as the year grows old
    And darker days are drawing near
    The winter winds will be much colder
    Now you're not here.
    I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky
    And one by one they disappear
    I wish that I was flying with them
    Now you're not here
    Like the sun through the trees you came to love me
    Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away
    Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way
    You always loved this time of year
    Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now
    'Cause you're not here
    Like the sun through the trees you came to love me
    Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away
    A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes
    As if to hide a lonely tear
    My life will be forever autumn
    'Cause you're not here

    Justin Hayward
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    Thanks for posting that. @raisingirl
    AB Still learning

  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    How can you "romanticise melancholy, the 2,words are almost polar opposites. I don't think it is as green here in winter,as spring. The trees here have lost their leaves, the same as they would in Germany. I don't think it's anything to do with a British "stiff upper lip". Unless you suffer from SAD, it's acceptance,you cannot do anything about the season/weather. I appreciate and love taking the dogs/grandkids walking in the forests,woods on frosty sunny days. I personally hate snow,yet a lot of people love it,and think its beautiful. First off, when the clocks go back,I dislike the darker evenings,then I enjoy walking the dogs when the street lights are on,and lights in peoples houses casting a warm glow,and don't even get me started about the smell of the log burners!
  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    Wonderful @raisingirl I will copy once I’m on my laptop. 

    The moonlight sonata is one of those we have in mind in Autumn @pansyface. On the way back from shopping I listened to Alan T’s choice on Classic FM and thought that we also listen preferable to certain music in different seasons. The Lark Ascending in a warm summer night is depressing  but sitting in a car in November on a grey rainy day definitely does something with me. 

    I ♥ my garden.

  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    @Posy. I will have a look at it. I asked this morning because the blogger in Germany start now to go into the dark mood and are getting depressed. But the English bloggers take it as it is.

    I ♥ my garden.

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Thank you @pansyface for the Moonlight Sonata. I have it on my Laptop now. I'm afraid I tend to forget to listen to music and that is one of my favourite pieces. I couldn't listen to piano music for years after 1st OH died as he was a brilliant pianist and the house was always full of it.

    I think there is so much publicity about Christmas and the shops are always so full of it in England that it takes one's mind away from winter starting. Then when that's all over, if you're a gardener, the snowdrops come out, then the crocuses and daffodils and suddenly it's spring! Also the autumn colours are so glorious that, for me, autumn isn't a sad month. Also a busy time, all those leaves to sweep and rake! 

    I'm lucky to live in the countryside. I expect it is more depressing for those who live in a flat without a garden in town.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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