--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If I shut my eyes it returns: the…" description: "\"“If I shut my eyes it returns: the evocation of a whole wood, a whole world of wood-darkness and flowers and birds and late summer silence, of a millio..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6d/h-e-bates-38999_darkness_if-i-shut-my-eyes-it-returns-the-evocati_962830.jpg" --- # If I shut my eyes it returns: the evocation of a whole… ![“If I shut my eyes it returns: the evocation of a whole wood, a whole world of wood-darkness and flowers and birds and late summer silence, of a million leaves turning mellowly to death. It becomes then more than the mere memory of a wood, the first and the best wood I have ever known. It is the…” quote by H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6d/h-e-bates-38999_darkness_if-i-shut-my-eyes-it-returns-the-evocati_962830.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6d/h-e-bates-38999_darkness_if-i-shut-my-eyes-it-returns-the-evocati_962830.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6d/h-e-bates-38999_darkness_if-i-shut-my-eyes-it-returns-the-evocati_962830.jpg) > ““If I shut my eyes it returns: the evocation of a whole wood, a whole world of wood-darkness and flowers and birds and late summer silence, of a million leaves turning mellowly to death. It becomes then more than the mere memory of a wood, the first and the best wood I have ever known. It is the redistillation of another and more lovely world.”” [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Recalling a forest in closed eyes evokes a vivid, living world richer than memory, turning nature into a distilled, idealized realm. **In simple terms:** Closing eyes conjures a vivid, ideal forest. Key Takeaway Use imagination to revive lost wonder. Themes nature memory imagination Mood reflective tranquil Type poetic inspirational When to use this quote - meditation - creative writing - nature therapy - visualization Key Concepts sensory immersion nostalgia Questions to Reflect On - How does imagination reshape perception of places? - Can sensory memory replace actual experience? A Different Perspective The vision may idealize nature, ignoring its harsher realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Late summer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/late-summer/) [Summer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summer/) [Whole world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole-world/) [Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/woods/) ## Related quotes > [“A wood at night, or even more at twilight, can be a strange place. Fear begins to come more quickly in a wood, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/a-wood-at-night-or-even-more-at-twilight-can-be-a-strange-place-fear/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“Dick turned around slowly. "Did you expect her to be dead because I was tight ?" His tone was pleasant. 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Waines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-j-waines/) > [At a meeting in her office in the late summer of 2002, months before the war in Iraq, prisoner abuse at Guantanamo is discussed.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seymour-hersh/at-a-meeting-in-her-office-in-the-late-summer-of-2002-months-before/) [Seymour Hersh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seymour-hersh/) > [“she can remember everyone admiring a rare kind of evening they spoke of as something they ought to save from oblivion to describe to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/she-can-remember-everyone-admiring-a-rare-kind-of-evening-they-spoke/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [“Mr. Grote shows me how he grows wild rice in the stream and collects the seeds. The rice is nutty and brown. He plants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-baker-kline/mr-grote-shows-me-how-he-grows-wild-rice-in-the-stream-and-collects/) [Christina Baker Kline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-baker-kline/) ## More by H.E. Bates > [“This fusion of wood and water is an entrancing thing. Without the wood the stream would be nothing: a mere thin watercourse winding through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/this-fusion-of-wood-and-water-is-an-entrancing-thing-without-the-wood/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“The major was very interested in the mountains, and we in turn were very interested in the major, a spare spruce man of nearly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/the-major-was-very-interested-in-the-mountains-and-we-in-turn-were/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“It is one of the oddest and sometimes one of the most charming characteristics of English weather that at times one season borrows complete…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/it-is-one-of-the-oddest-and-sometimes-one-of-the-most-charming/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“Every morning Mrs Eglantine sat at the round bamboo bar of the New Pacific Hotel and drank her breakfast. This consisted of two quick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/every-morning-mrs-eglantine-sat-at-the-round-bamboo-bar-of-the-new/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“And here, it seems to me, is much of the secret of the charm of woods in England. A wood should never be vast.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/and-here-it-seems-to-me-is-much-of-the-secret-of-the-charm-of-woods/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“But I drew the line, one evening, at Jerry O'Keefe's, the fish-shop where people crammed in late for hot plates of peas and chips…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/but-i-drew-the-line-one-evening-at-jerry-o-keefe-s-the-fish-shop/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“A wood at night, or even more at twilight, can be a strange place. Fear begins to come more quickly in a wood, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/a-wood-at-night-or-even-more-at-twilight-can-be-a-strange-place-fear/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“The cookery books will give you a thousand finicky devices, mushrooms in this, mushrooms in that, but there is only one way—to fry them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/the-cookery-books-will-give-you-a-thousand-finicky-devices-mushrooms/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“Blowsily, frowsily, comfortably, toothlessly, Mrs Candleton was sleeping away the afternoon in her hair-curlers and her pinnafore.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/blowsily-frowsily-comfortably-toothlessly-mrs-candleton-was-sleeping/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) > [“There are those who talk of the evil spirit of the woods. But for me there is only one evil spirit of woods: the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-bates/there-are-those-who-talk-of-the-evil-spirit-of-the-woods-but-for-me/) [H.E. Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) [Explore all 11 H.E. Bates quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-bates/) ## More Darkness quotes > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Strange - is it not? 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More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What does he look like? The question was soft- tentative. I knew who he meant. I interlaced my fingers through Rhysand's and squeezed tightly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/what-does-he-look-like-the-question-was-soft-tentative-i-knew-who-he/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [The dream of coming back is becoming a reality. A lot of the uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. A lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tagliabue/the-dream-of-coming-back-is-becoming-a-reality-a-lot-of-the/) [Paul Tagliabue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tagliabue/) > [“Life is like coffee, the darker it gets, the more it energizes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankita-singhal/life-is-like-coffee-the-darker-it-gets-the-more-it-energizes/) [Ankita Singhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ankita-singhal/) > [Twinking tears in a sea of black. Soft light in a world of darkness. Tiny wishes in a place of dreams. Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/) Nicole Gentile [Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If I shut my eyes it returns: the evocation of a whole wood, a whole world of wood-darkness and flowers and birds and late summer silence, of a million leaves turning mellowly to death. It becomes then more than the mere memory of a wood, the first and the best wood I have ever known. It is the redistillation of another and more lovely world.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H.E. 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