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720.Adolf led him to the cloister mill through which one could easily sneak out, unseen in the twilight, and unheard because of the constant whirring of wheels... Nightbirds rose above them in a rustle of wings; a few stars peeked wet and bright through quiet clouds.
Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund, translated by Ursele Molinaro, Bantam, 1971, p. 19.
PLACE: a monastery in Germany
TIME: the Middle Ages
CIRCUMSTANCE: students sneaking out of the monastery.
And he was very fond of the hymns, especially of those in honor of Mary. He loved the firm severe pace of these songs, their constantly recurring rhythms and praises. He could follow their reverent meaning adoringly, or he could forget their meaning and become engrossed in the solemn cadence of the verses and let himself be filled by them, by the deep, drawn-out notes, the full sound of the vowels, the pious refrains. Deep down in his heart he had no love for learning, grammar, and logic, although they, too, had their beauty. His real love was for the image-and-sound world of liturgy.
Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund, translated by Ursele Molinaro, Bantam, 1971, p. 36.
PLACE: a monastery in Germany
TIME: the Middle Ages
CIRCUMSTANCE:
He picked up an empty snail house, it made a faint tinkling sound among the stones and was warm with sun. Absorbed, he examined the windings of the shell, the notched spiral, the capricious dwindling of its little crown, the empty gullet with its shimmering of mother-of-pearl.
Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund, translated by Ursele Molinaro, Bantam, 1971, p. 71.
PLACE: a field near a monastery in Germany
TIME: the Middle Ages
CIRCUMSTANCE:
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