And from that day on, rabbits could not be kept out of vegetable gardens, as they always had a trick for the occasion. Hazel and his gang are sure that Dandelion has made a favorable impression because he has told a classic rabbit story and told it very well. However, they soon realize that the reception they have received is not very enthusiastic. They learn that these rabbits do not tell the traditional stories and that they believe that rabbits need dignity, not tricks.
One of the new rabbits, Silverweed, a young poet, recites a beautiful poem about movement and life, and it affects Fiver greatly. He writhes in agony, insulting the other rabbits, and Hazel has trouble getting him up out of the burrow, along with Bigwig. Fiver thinks they have come out with him because they also sense the danger in the warren, but he is startled to learn that they are only upset because he may have endangered their relationship with Cowslip and the other rabbits.
They go back underground to sleep. Hazel wakes up, realizes that Fiver is not there, and goes with Bigwig to find him. Fiver tells them he is leaving.
Hazel tells Bigwig he must go with Fiver a little way to hear what he has to say and to try to convince him to come back. But when you get there you find it's not that simple.
The rabbits' proverb is better expressed. They say, "One cloud feels lonely": and indeed it is true that the sky will soon be overcast. Sometimes it is taken, sometimes it is not.
But there is no bargain, for here, what is, is what must be. To feel the cloud that hung over us lift and disperse—the cloud that dulled the heart and made happiness no more than a memory!
This at least is one joy that must have been known by almost every living creature. Our two warrens ought to be like that. They ought to be together—not fighting. One of the best-loved children's classics of all time, this is the complete, original story of Watership Down. Something terrible is about to happen to the warren - Fiver feels sure of it. And Fiver's sixth sense is never wrong, according to his brother Hazel.
They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them. And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home. Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all. This much-loved tale of courage and survival is now a beautiful new animated series for television, full of excitement and adventure - perfect for all the family to enjoy.
Richard Adams grew up in Berkshire, the son of a country doctor. The TL; DR answer is: The poem signifies the omnipresent death in the warren and how the rabbits try to view it as a blessing, in order to keep relative sanity.
It seems like complete insanity to the outsiders. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.
Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What does Silverweed's poem signify? Ask Question. Asked 10 months ago. Active 5 months ago. Viewed times. In the midst of this peculiar atmosphere, in which Fiver is the only one to be creeped out and see the place for what it is, a poet called Silverweed gives them a song as a reply to Dandelion's storytelling: The wind is blowing, blowing over the grass.
Later he says: "You felt it, then? Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Here's why: As you said yourself, the rabbits in the Warren of Snares have developed a very specific culture. Hope this makes sense. Improve this answer. Iva Nova Iva Nova 56 3 3 bronze badges. I went back to re-read some relevant passages of the novel before commenting here. Great answer, that really makes sense. A couple of extra pieces of evidence: Fiver's explanation of the warren mentions " anyone who asked 'Where?
They don't give their secrets away for nothing " - suggesting Silverweed was privy to supernatural secrets. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. When the labours of Hazel and his band risk taking too much out of us, humour comes in the shape of Keehar, a strangely accented black-haired gull they encounter, wounded, along the way. Characterised by an "outlandish and distorted " accent inspired by a fighter Adams met in the Norwegian Resistance and serving as a part of the rescue of the rabbits, he brings levity and friendship.
The novel has its own fictional language, Lapine, invented by Adams but somehow easy to accept as one we have always known. It is the language of the countryside, of its copses and beeches and of the weather that read as a kind of rapture to my eight-year-old mind: "Creatures that have neither clocks nor books are alive to all manner of knowledge about time and the weather The changes in the warmth and the dampness of the soil, the falling of the sunlight patches, the altering movement of the beams in the light wind.
The poetry of the rabbits' silflay, their gathering at the surface to feed, on summer evenings, "in the grass under the red may and the sweet, carrion-scented elder bloom" speaks to something perennial. The symbolism, mythology and meaning of the individual rabbits' names remain with the reader a long time after the last sentence is read. Adams dedicated Watership Down to his daughters Juliet and Rosamond, and always underplayed any claim to an intended allegory, saying: "I simply wrote down a story I told to my two little girls.
Its comfort lies not in all ending well but in the courage, loyalty, language and truth of the the journey.
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