Week 3 Analysis: Close Reading of Nurslings of the Sky.

This text is particularly strong in its descriptive abilities. The author is extremely adept at using her language skills and descriptive words to make you feel immersed in the land she experienced. With how she is able to describe, it makes you feel like you are there, and also at the same time she is able to make you anticipate knowing more about California’s beauty. She is also able to using effective sentences to get you interested in reading even more, without feeling weighed down by all the lengthy sentences due to the variety in lengths. 

The first section I enjoyed out of this passage was “Days when the hollows... rounded and pearly white above.” This sentence was so descriptive, it felt like I was placed back in the Sierras again. One can easily imagine how the clouds cusp the mountains and it helps build up for even more description of the clouds and fogs in the next few lines. It’s a very accurate and quick description that’s to the point that any person should be able to imagine what it is like to be standing in the Sierras. 

The next section that I felt was important was “There will be cloud pillars miles high, snow-capped, glorified...” It keeps adding on to the previous descriptions given to you to read, and it helps build the setting more and more for the reader. Now if someone has not been there, they can imagine the mountains tall with their snow on top, and the clouds hugging around these mountains. You can easily envision the chilly winter morning that the setting probably is describing, and it just makes it easier for the reader to immerse themselves in the story. 

The final section I thought was significant was “To get the real effect of a mountain storm you must be inside.” Wow, this sentence was very short but it packed a strong punch. It sets you up for the next passage and gives a transition. I also believe that this is the start of a climax of sorts to this story of exploring the nature of California, you feel the anticipation to wanting to know about how the mountain storm feels or looks like. The authors ability to describe the nature makes you excited to learn how she describes this upcoming storm. 

Austin, Mary. The Land of the Little Rain, “Nurslings of the Sky.” Guntenberg eBooks, 2008-2013. 

“Of the high Sierras choose the neighborhood of the splintered peaks about the Kern and King's river divide for storm study, or the short, wide-mouthed canons opening eastward on high valleys. Days when the hollows are steeped in a warm, winey flood the clouds came walking on the floor of heaven, flat and pearly gray beneath, rounded and pearly white above. They gather flock-wise, moving on the level currents that roll about the peaks, lock hands and settle with the cooler air, drawing a veil about those places where they do their work. If their meeting or parting takes place at sunrise or sunset, as it often does, one gets the splendor of the apocalypse. There will be cloud pillars miles high, snow-capped, glorified, and preserving an orderly perspective before the unbarred door of the sun, or perhaps mere ghosts of clouds that dance to some pied piper of an unfelt wind. But be it day or night, once they have settled to their work, one sees from the valley only the blank wall of their tents stretched along the ranges. To get the real effect of a mountain storm you must be inside.”