--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The poulterers' shops were still half…" description: "\"“The poulterers' shops were still half open, and the fruiterers' were radiant in their glory. There were great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/901/charles-dickens-34_christmas_the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-ope_1887376.jpg" --- # The poulterers' shops were still half open, and the… ![“The poulterers' shops were still half open, and the fruiterers' were radiant in their glory. There were great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentleman, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were…” quote by Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/901/charles-dickens-34_christmas_the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-ope_1887376.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/901/charles-dickens-34_christmas_the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-ope_1887376.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/901/charles-dickens-34_christmas_the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-ope_1887376.jpg) > ““The poulterers' shops were still half open, and the fruiterers' were radiant in their glory. There were great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentleman, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, brown-faced broad-girthed Spanish onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish friars, and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe. There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made, in the shopkeepers' benevolence, to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that people's mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered lanes; there were Norfolk Biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner.”” [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage paints a vivid, bustling market scene, using rich sensory details to evoke the abundance and character of street vendors. **In simple terms:** A lively market full of colorful foods and characters. Key Takeaway Appreciate everyday abundance. Themes culture food urban life Mood nostalgic vivid Type literary descriptive When to use this quote - market visits - food festivals - urban tours Key Concepts sensory description social observation Questions to Reflect On - How does market diversity reflect society? - What emotions do vivid food descriptions evoke? A Different Perspective May romanticize poverty. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Christmas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christmas/) [Food](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/food/) [Fruit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fruit/) [Paper bags](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paper-bags/) ## Related quotes > [Heaped on the floor were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, bartrels of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/heaped-on-the-floor-were-turkeys-geese-game-poultry-brawn-great/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [There is probably a smell of roasted chestnuts and other good comfortable things all the time, for we are telling Winter Stories - Ghost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/there-is-probably-a-smell-of-roasted-chestnuts-and-other-good/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“They banged doors, they shouted Trick or Treat and their brown paper bags began to fill with incredible sweets. They galloped with their teeth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/they-banged-doors-they-shouted-trick-or-treat-and-their-brown-paper/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [Today I accidentally stepped on a snail on the sidewalk in front of our house. And I thought, I too am like that snail.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-handey/today-i-accidentally-stepped-on-a-snail-on-the-sidewalk-in-front-of/) [Jack Handey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-handey/) > [“They caravanned over to 51st Avenue in northwestern Nashville, a small section of town aptly named the Nations. It was across Interstate 40 from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-t-ellison/they-caravanned-over-to-51st-avenue-in-northwestern-nashville-a-small/) [J.T. Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-t-ellison/) > [I was teased if I brought my books home. I would take a paper bag to the library and put the books in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/i-was-teased-if-i-brought-my-books-home-i-would-take-a-paper-bag-to/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [In some of our subcultures, paper bags are often used to carry intimate personal belongings. And the sight of some of our less fortunate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-l-bazelon/in-some-of-our-subcultures-paper-bags-are-often-used-to-carry/) David L. Bazelon > [What I play now isn't surf music. It's too powerful. I used to go through paper bags; now I go through brick walls. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-dale/what-i-play-now-isn-t-surf-music-it-s-too-powerful-i-used-to-go/) [Dick Dale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-dale/) > [I cant stand those food cult people who bring their own food into the house. All those little thermoses and paper bags-it makes the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-lynde/i-cant-stand-those-food-cult-people-who-bring-their-own-food-into-the/) [Paul Lynde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-lynde/) > [Remember technology does not make good work. You can still write a poem on a brown paper bag, and haiku is just as profound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-turrell/remember-technology-does-not-make-good-work-you-can-still-write-a/) [James Turrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-turrell/) > [“Taylor nearly came undone, imagining that worm in her own mouth, and mistakenly took in a deep breath through her nose. She winced and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-t-ellison/taylor-nearly-came-undone-imagining-that-worm-in-her-own-mouth-and/) [J.T. Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-t-ellison/) > [If you find your truth you must follow it. You could find it in a paper bag, or in a statue, or in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/buckethead/if-you-find-your-truth-you-must-follow-it-you-could-find-it-in-a/) Buckethead > [Almost no one under 60 remembers what fundraising was like before Watergate. Until the 1970s, campaign money was collected by "bagmen," familiar characters from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-alter/almost-no-one-under-60-remembers-what-fundraising-was-like-before/) [Jonathan Alter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-alter/) > [“We write in darkness. We love in alleys. We breathe into beige paper bags. Anything to mollify the confusion. Anything to simplify the math.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-yarrow/we-write-in-darkness-we-love-in-alleys-we-breathe-into-beige-paper/) Bill Yarrow > [At last, small witches, goblins, hags, And pirates armed with paper bags Their costumes hinged on safety pins, Go haunt a night of pumpkin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/at-last-small-witches-goblins-hags-and-pirates-armed-with-paper-bags/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) ## More by Charles Dickens > [“All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers, and with such pretences did I cheat myself. Surely a curious thing. That I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/all-other-swindlers-upon-earth-are-nothing-to-the-self-swindlers-and/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [... Arthur Gride, whose bleared eyes gloated only over the outward beauties, and were blind to the spirit which reigned within, evinced - a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/arthur-gride-whose-bleared-eyes-gloated-only-over-the-outward/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/there-can-be-no-disparity-in-marriage-like-unsuitability-of-mind-and/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [I have tried to resign myself, and to console myself; and that, I hope, I may have done imperfectly; but what I cannot firmly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-have-tried-to-resign-myself-and-to-console-myself-and-that-i-hope-i/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [A new heart for a New Year, always!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/a-new-heart-for-a-new-year-always/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“The suspense: the fearful, acute suspense: of standing idly by while the life of one we dearly love, is trembling in the balance; the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-suspense-the-fearful-acute-suspense-of-standing-idly-by-while-the/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/mrs-joe-was-a-very-clean-housekeeper-but-had-an-exquisite-art-of/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/there-seems-a-magic-in-the-very-name-of-christmas/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“evening, they began to think that although he could never hope to be an Englishman, still it would be hard to visit that affliction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/evening-they-began-to-think-that-although-he-could-never-hope-to-be/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“Besides which, all that I could have said of the Story to any purpose, I had endeavoured to say in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/besides-which-all-that-i-could-have-said-of-the-story-to-any-purpose/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“The wheels rolled on, and rolled down by the Monument, and by the Tower; and by the Docks; down by Ratcliffe, and by Rotherhithe;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-wheels-rolled-on-and-rolled-down-by-the-monument-and-by-the-tower/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“The three customers pulled off their hats to Madame Defarge, with three flourishes. She acknowledged their homage by bending her head, and giving them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-three-customers-pulled-off-their-hats-to-madame-defarge-with/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“What a situation!' cried Miss Squeers; '...What is the reason that men fall in love with me, whether I like it or not, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/what-a-situation-cried-miss-squeers-what-is-the-reason-that-men-fall/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [I admire machinery as much is any man, and am as thankful to it as any man can be for what it does for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-admire-machinery-as-much-is-any-man-and-am-as-thankful-to-it-as-any/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“Mr. Pickwick was a philosopher, but philosophers are only men in armour, after all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/mr-pickwick-was-a-philosopher-but-philosophers-are-only-men-in-armour/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) [Explore all 2,309 Charles Dickens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) ## More Chestnuts quotes > [Think you a little din can daunt mine ears? Have I not in my time heard lions roar? Have I not heard the sea,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/think-you-a-little-din-can-daunt-mine-ears-have-i-not-in-my-time/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Chestnuts in stuffing tastes like someone chewed up a tree branch and then French-kissed it into your mouth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-handler/chestnuts-in-stuffing-tastes-like-someone-chewed-up-a-tree-branch-and/) [Daniel Handler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-handler/) > [ I could not help reflecting that the bullet which had struck the chestnut \[horse\] had certainly passed within a foot of my head. So… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-could-not-help-reflecting-that-the-bullet-which-had-struck-the/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/consider-the-islands-bearing-the-names-of-all-the-saints-bristling/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikos-kazantzakis/i-felt-once-more-how-simple-and-frugal-a-thing-is-happiness-a-glass/) [Nikos Kazantzakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikos-kazantzakis/) > [Chestnuts are my favorite ingredient to use in the fall, especially for the holidays. I always find that they are meaty, hearty and have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-zakarian/chestnuts-are-my-favorite-ingredient-to-use-in-the-fall-especially/) [Geoffrey Zakarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-zakarian/) > [“It is a sunny fall afternoon and I’m engaged in one of my favorite pastimes—picking chestnuts. I’m playing alone under the spreading, leafy, protective…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eva-hoffman/it-is-a-sunny-fall-afternoon-and-i-m-engaged-in-one-of-my-favorite/) [Eva Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eva-hoffman/) > [No matter what else you came up against, if you could smile and laugh while a monkey did you with chestnuts in a dank…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/no-matter-what-else-you-came-up-against-if-you-could-smile-and-laugh/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [Labor is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul, Nor beauty born out of its own despair, Nor blear-eyed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/labor-is-blossoming-or-dancing-where-the-body-is-not-bruised-to/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [And there is quite a different sort of conversation around a fire than there is in the shadow of a beech tree… Four dry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pietro-aretino/and-there-is-quite-a-different-sort-of-conversation-around-a-fire/) [Pietro Aretino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pietro-aretino/) > [If you dry the chestnut, both the barks being taken away, beat them into powder and make the powder up into an electuary with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-culpeper/if-you-dry-the-chestnut-both-the-barks-being-taken-away-beat-them/) [Nicholas Culpeper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-culpeper/) > [You are like a chestnut burr, prickly outside, but silky-soft within, and a sweet kernel, if one can only get at it. Love will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/you-are-like-a-chestnut-burr-prickly-outside-but-silky-soft-within/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [On my cornice linger the ripe black grapes ungathered; Children fill the groves with the echoes of their glee, Gathering tawny chestnuts, and shouting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-c-bryant/on-my-cornice-linger-the-ripe-black-grapes-ungathered-children-fill/) [William C. Bryant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-c-bryant/) > [If you depend on where the chestnuts are going to be, and where the deer are, you have to be attuned to the outside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-rheingold/if-you-depend-on-where-the-chestnuts-are-going-to-be-and-where-the/) [Howard Rheingold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-rheingold/) > [I once painted a concert singer and on the chestnut frame I carved the opening bars of Mendelssohn's Rest in the Lord. It was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-eakins/i-once-painted-a-concert-singer-and-on-the-chestnut-frame-i-carved/) [Thomas Eakins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-eakins/) Browse all 67 Chestnuts quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The poulterers' shops were still half open, and the fruiterers' were radiant in their glory. There were great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentleman, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, brown-faced broad-girthed Spanish onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish friars, and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe. There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made, in the shopkeepers' benevolence, to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that people's mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered lanes; there were Norfolk Biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Dickens" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-open-and-the-fruiterers-were/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Chestnuts" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-open-and-the-fruiterers-were/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/901/charles-dickens-34_christmas_the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-ope_1887376.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/901/charles-dickens-34_christmas_the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-ope_1887376.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/901/charles-dickens-34_christmas_the-poulterers-shops-were-still-half-ope_1887376.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The poulterers' shops were still half open, and the fruiterers' were radiant in their glory. 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