--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: They had met one another, at first not…" description: "\"“They had met one another, at first not very often, throughout the heady autumn of the first London air raids. Never had a season been more felt; one b..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/elizabeth-bowen-1197_autumn_they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-ve_3026010.jpg" --- # They had met one another, at first not very often… ![“They had met one another, at first not very often, throughout the heady autumn of the first London air raids. Never had a season been more felt; one bought the poetic sense of it with the sense of death. Out of mists of morning charred by the smoke from ruins each day rose to a height of unmisty…” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/elizabeth-bowen-1197_autumn_they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-ve_3026010.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/elizabeth-bowen-1197_autumn_they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-ve_3026010.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/elizabeth-bowen-1197_autumn_they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-ve_3026010.jpg) > ““They had met one another, at first not very often, throughout the heady autumn of the first London air raids. Never had a season been more felt; one bought the poetic sense of it with the sense of death. Out of mists of morning charred by the smoke from ruins each day rose to a height of unmisty glitter; between the last of sunset and first note of the siren the darkening glassy tenseness of evening was drawn fine. From the moment of waking you tasted the sweet autumn not less because of an acridity on the tongue and nostrils; and as the singed dust settled and smoke diluted you felt more and more called upon to observe daytime as a pure and curious holiday from fear. All through London the ropings-off of dangerous tracts of streets made islands of exalted if stricken silence, and people crowded against the ropes to admire the sunny emptiness on the other side. The diversion of traffic out of blocked main thoroughfares into byways, the unstopping phatasmagoric streaming of lorries, buses, vans, drays, taxis past modest windows and quiet doorways set up an overpowering sense of London’s organic power – somewhere there was a source from which heavy motion boiled, surged and, not to be damned up, force itself into new channels.”” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## 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 captures how wartime London transformed everyday life, turning danger into a strange beauty and revealing the city's resilient, adaptive spirit. **In simple terms:** War reshapes daily life, showing both danger and unexpected beauty. Key Takeaway Notice resilience in crisis. Themes war urban life resilience beauty adaptation Mood reflective poetic hopeful Type literary descriptive philosophical When to use this quote - daily commute - air raid shelters - city planning - community gatherings Key Concepts human spirit urban dynamics psychology of fear Questions to Reflect On - How does crisis reveal hidden strengths? - What aspects of daily life become more precious? A Different Perspective The romanticized tone may downplay suffering. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Air Raids](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/air-raids-1005795/) [Autumn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn/) [Autumn Acridity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn-acridity-4921400/) [Autumn London](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn-london-4921399/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Sunsets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sunsets/) [Sweet Autumn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sweet-autumn-1201026/) ## Related quotes > [It's a Beautiful Saturday! It's beautiful, it's Saturday and the air is sweet with the last of Autumn. Go out and enjoy the weekend!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-s-a-beautiful-saturday-it-s-beautiful-it-s-saturday-and-the-air-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [During part of 1941 and 1942, when the Luftwaffe was busy in Russia, the German radio regaled its home audience with stories of devastating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/during-part-of-1941-and-1942-when-the-luftwaffe-was-busy-in-russia/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [My parents were born in the 1930s, and they experienced the air raids on Tokyo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hideo-kojima/my-parents-were-born-in-the-1930s-and-they-experienced-the-air-raids/) [Hideo Kojima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hideo-kojima/) > [On the eighteenth of December 1972, when we thought we were getting another of the hundreds of little tactical air raids, we heard the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-stockdale/on-the-eighteenth-of-december-1972-when-we-thought-we-were-getting/) [James Stockdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-stockdale/) > [There were air raids at night. The factory was dark and dirty. And I remember thinking - well - I must find somebody or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-pitter/there-were-air-raids-at-night-the-factory-was-dark-and-dirty-and-i/) [Ruth Pitter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-pitter/) > [“At this Linda gave up. Children might or might not enjoy air-raids actually in progress, but a child who was not thrilled by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-mitford/at-this-linda-gave-up-children-might-or-might-not-enjoy-air-raids/) [Nancy Mitford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-mitford/) > [The autumn hill gathers the remaining light, A flying bird chases after its companion. The green color is bright And brings me into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-wei/the-autumn-hill-gathers-the-remaining-light-a-flying-bird-chases/) [Wang Wei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-wei/) > [Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing the gorgeous buttocks of the ape or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/langston-hughes/beauty-for-some-provides-escape-who-gain-a-happiness-in-eyeing-the/) [Langston Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/langston-hughes/) > [ “I loved a maid as red as autumn \[...\] with sunset in her hair.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-r-r-martin/i-loved-a-maid-as-red-as-autumn-with-sunset-in-her-hair/) [George R.R. Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-r-r-martin/) > [It is the sense of unfamiliar envelopment that is impressive, whether in the living grays of hoarfrost, the crimson of the heavens at sunset,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-j-phillips/it-is-the-sense-of-unfamiliar-envelopment-that-is-impressive-whether/) [Walter J. Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-j-phillips/) > [Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/autumn-arrives-in-early-morning-but-spring-at-the-close-of-a-winter/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Figures dark beneath their loads pass down the far bank of the river, rendered immortal by the streak of sunset upon their shoulders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/figures-dark-beneath-their-loads-pass-down-the-far-bank-of-the-river/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [The world is a dream, you say, and it’s lovely, sometimes. Sunset. Clouds. Sky.” “No. The image is a dream. The beauty is real.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-bach/the-world-is-a-dream-you-say-and-it-s-lovely-sometimes-sunset-clouds/) [Richard Bach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-bach/) > [“Sooner or later, however, we must realise there is no station in this life, no one earthly place to arrive once and for all.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hastings/sooner-or-later-however-we-must-realise-there-is-no-station-in-this/) [Robert Hastings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hastings/) > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Autumn quotes > [This, at last, was where things were as they ought to be. Everything was in its place -- the tree, the earth underneath, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-liedloff/this-at-last-was-where-things-were-as-they-ought-to-be-everything-was/) [Jean Liedloff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-liedloff/) > [The American spring is by no means so agreeable as the American autumn; both move with faltering step, and slow; but this lingering pace,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-trollope/the-american-spring-is-by-no-means-so-agreeable-as-the-american/) [Frances Trollope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-trollope/) > [“Flowers that had bloomed brilliant from spring through autumn blackened under the killing frost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/flowers-that-had-bloomed-brilliant-from-spring-through-autumn/) [Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/) > [“FALL I've never liked orange not even a hint of yellow though that doesn't mean I'm derange, you know. but it's still a riddle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kynna-claire/fall-i-ve-never-liked-orange-not-even-a-hint-of-yellow-though-that/) [Kynna Claire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kynna-claire/) > [The trees change their voices in autumn as well as their shapes. No longer do they whisper to one another in muffled tones as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patience-strong/the-trees-change-their-voices-in-autumn-as-well-as-their-shapes-no/) [Patience Strong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patience-strong/) > [The measured blood beats out the year's delay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-bogan/the-measured-blood-beats-out-the-year-s-delay/) [Louise Bogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-bogan/) > [You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/you-know-how-this-is-if-i-look-at-the-crystal-moon-at-the-red-branch/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-crickets-felt-it-was-their-duty-to-warn-everybody-that-summertime/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/he-found-himself-wondering-at-times-especially-in-the-autumn-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Easter blessings All life’s sacrifices like autumn leaves awaken our senses and power to love and be whole Our Mother Earth, Our Father Sky…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramon-ravenswood/easter-blessings-all-life-s-sacrifices-like-autumn-leaves-awaken-our/) [Ramon Ravenswood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramon-ravenswood/) > [The lush green of the fields became a rich gold that swayed sturdily under the wind and fell at last before the hands of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-ostenso/the-lush-green-of-the-fields-became-a-rich-gold-that-swayed-sturdily/) [Martha Ostenso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-ostenso/) > [The ascent of any route begins, in dreams at least, the autumn before. Our minds ring, involuntarily, with the alluring names of mountains, aiguilles,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-rebuffat/the-ascent-of-any-route-begins-in-dreams-at-least-the-autumn-before/) [Gaston Rebuffat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-rebuffat/) > [“Autumn eats its leaf out of my hand: we are friends. From the nuts we shell time and we teach it to walk: then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-celan/autumn-eats-its-leaf-out-of-my-hand-we-are-friends-from-the-nuts-we/) [Paul Celan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-celan/) > [While cares will drop off like autumn leaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/while-cares-will-drop-off-like-autumn-leaves/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [We must learn to do economic work from all who know how, no matter who they are. We must esteem them as teachers, learning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/we-must-learn-to-do-economic-work-from-all-who-know-how-no-matter-who/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) [Browse all 1,210 Autumn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“They had met one another, at first not very often, throughout the heady autumn of the first London air raids. Never had a season been more felt; one bought the poetic sense of it with the sense of death. Out of mists of morning charred by the smoke from ruins each day rose to a height of unmisty glitter; between the last of sunset and first note of the siren the darkening glassy tenseness of evening was drawn fine. From the moment of waking you tasted the sweet autumn not less because of an acridity on the tongue and nostrils; and as the singed dust settled and smoke diluted you felt more and more called upon to observe daytime as a pure and curious holiday from fear. All through London the ropings-off of dangerous tracts of streets made islands of exalted if stricken silence, and people crowded against the ropes to admire the sunny emptiness on the other side. The diversion of traffic out of blocked main thoroughfares into byways, the unstopping phatasmagoric streaming of lorries, buses, vans, drays, taxis past modest windows and quiet doorways set up an overpowering sense of London’s organic power – somewhere there was a source from which heavy motion boiled, surged and, not to be damned up, force itself into new channels.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Bowen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-very-often-throughout-the-heady/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Autumn" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-very-often-throughout-the-heady/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/elizabeth-bowen-1197_autumn_they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-ve_3026010.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/elizabeth-bowen-1197_autumn_they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-ve_3026010.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/elizabeth-bowen-1197_autumn_they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-ve_3026010.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“They had met one another, at first not very often, throughout the heady autumn of the first London air…” — Elizabeth Bowen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elizabeth Bowen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“They had met one another, at...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-very-often-throughout-the-heady/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/they-had-met-one-another-at-first-not-very-often-throughout-the-heady/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```