I recently picked up a secondhand book of George Orwell's short stories. I imagine most former students of English Literature will, like me, be familiar with his famous 'Animal Farm'. These short stories tackle subjects diverse in Orwell's beautifully crafted prose.
The first paragraph of one of them ('Some thoughts on the Common Toad') begins: "Before the swallow, before the daffodil, and not much later than the snowdrop, the common toad salutes the coming of spring after his own fashion, which is to emerge from a hole in the ground where he has lain buried since the previous autumn, and crawl as rapidly as possible towards the nearest suitable patch of water."
A wonderful bank of snowdrops Hazel ! and yes I still have my paperback copy of Animal Farm with all my scribbled pencilled notes in the margins !! wonderful book !
'Four legs good, two legs bad' has stayed with me all my life. I think Orwell was a master of the English language!
Animal Farm was one of the many books that we had to read for English literature in high school.
Thank you on both counts, Ivan!