Chief Works of Richard Jefferies:

CLICK HERE for a free ebook version of ' The Story of My Heart'

CLICK HERE for links to other free ebooks of works by Richard Jefferies

Extracts from Richard Jefferies book ‘The Story of My Heart’.

Chapter 1   “......My heart was dusty, parched for want of the rain of deep feeling; my mind arid and dry, for there is a dust which settles on the heart as well as that which falls on a ledge.  It is injurious to the mind as well as to the body to be always surrounded by the same circumstances.  A species of thick clothing slowly grows about the mind, the pores are choked, little habits become a part of existence, and by degrees the mind is enclosed in a husk.  When this began to form I felt eager to escape from it, to throw it off like heavy clothing, to drink deeply once more at the fresh fountains of life.  An inspiration – a long deep breath of the pure air of thought – could alone give health to the heart.

There was a hill to which I used to resort at such periods.  The labour of walking three miles to it, all the while gradually ascending, seemed to clear my blood of the heaviness accumulated at home. On a warm summer day the slow continued rise required continual effort, which carried away the sense of oppression......By the time I had reached the summit.......... I felt myself, myself....... There came to me a delicate, but at the same time a deep, strong and sensuous enjoyment of the beautiful green earth, the beautiful sky and the sun: I felt them, they gave me inexplicable delight, as if they embraced and poured out their love upon me.

Chapter 3   “ There is an immense ocean over which the mind can sail, upon which the vessel of thought has not yet been launched.  I hope to launch it.  The mind of so many thousand years has worked round and round inside the circle of these three ideas as a boat on an inland lake.  Let us haul it over the belt of land, launch on the ocean, and sail outwards.

 
Coate Water Country Park which backed onto Richard Jefferies home

There is so much beyond all that has ever yet been imagined.  As I write these words, in the very moment, I feel that the whole aire, the sunshine out yonder lighting up the ploughed earth, the distant sky, the circumambient ether, and that far space, is full of soul-secrets, soul-life, things outside the experience of all the ages....”

Chapter 7  “....the pageantry of power, the still more foolish pageantry of wealth, the senseless precedence of place; words fail me to express my utter contempt for such pleasure or such ambitions.  Let me be in myself myself fully, and those I love equally so.   It is enough to lie on the sward in the shadow of green boughs, to listen to the songs of summer, to drink in the sunlight, the air, the flowers, the sky, the beauty of it all, or upon the hill-tops to watch the white clouds rising over the curved hill-lines, their shadows descending the slope.  Or on the beach to listen to the sweet sight as the smooth sea runs up and recedes.  It is lying beside the immortals, in-drawing the life of the ocean, the earth, and the sun.....”

The view from Coate Water Country park looking towards Liddington Hill

Other Extracts:

The sun was up when Felix awoke, and as he raised himself the beauty of the Lake before him filled him with pleasure. By the shore it was so calm tht the trees were perfectly reflected, and the few willow leaves that had fallen floated without drifting one way or the other. Farther out the islands were lit up with the sunlight, and the swallows skimmed the water, following the outline of their shores.... His mind went out to the beauty of it. After London

Links to other studies, research and information relating to Richard Jefferies and to sites containing downloadable ebooks of Richard Jefferies' work can be seen HERE

Donations: If you would like to make a donation to the Richard Jefferies Society, please CLICK HERE 

If you would like to join the Richard Jefferies Society, please download and complete our member application form

More information: for more information about the Richard Jefferies Society please CLICK HERE