"Anna Karenin" Post 5a

Vocabulary

consecrated (297): blessed, divine, sanctified

onerous (297): difficult, tiresome

Literary Devices

"All that had been swallowed up in the sea of cheerful common toil" (297). This metaphor talks of how the discontent and tension between Levin and the peasants dissipated through the hard work they had done together, and after the plowing and haying was done the conflict seemed nonexistent.

"'How beautiful!' he thought, looking up at some fleecy white clouds poised in the middle of the sky right above his head, like a strange mother-of-pearl shell" (298). Levin's simile here shows the strange mood of reflection he is in, as he is not often apt to come up with such sentimental similes as here. He is an extremely reflective mood and, having just reexamined his direction in the world, is in a way looking at it with new eyes.

"No trace was to be seen of the shell; but spread half across the sky was a smooth tapestry of fleecy cloudlets, growing thinner and thinner" (299). This metaphor of the "smooth tapestry" of cloudlets shows how the world isn't quite as mystical and ideal as Levin thought in the previous section, but it still holds value for him and he still needs to decide a focus for his life. Kitty's entrance in this scene decides where he will  be headed. However, now it's up to him to decide what to do about his obvious love for her. 

Quote

"The singing women were drawing nearer Levin and he felt as if a thunder-cloud of merriment were swooping down upon him. the cloud swooped down and enveloped him; and the haycock on which he was lying, the other haycocks, the carts, and whole meadow and the distant fields all seemed to advance and vibrate and throb to the rhythm of this madly-merry song with its shouting and whistling and clapping... But he could do nothing except lie and look and listen. When the peasants and their song had disappeared out of sight and hearing, a weary feeling of despondency at his own isolation, his physical inactivity, his alienation from the world, came over him" (297). This quote was so descriptive, and is something the reader really can relate to. That feeling of not relating, of being in one's separate world leading to reflection is common to all of us. This quote also sets the scene for the rest of the chapter.

Theme

Once one has found one's direction in life, one must pursue it.