# The Great Forest explained — After London

> Chapter companion for After London by Richard Jefferies.

## What happens

This chapter describes the gradual transformation of the English countryside into an immense forest after the collapse of civilization. Over thirty years, fields, roads, and villages are overrun by brambles, briars, and trees; marshes form; and the landscape becomes impassable except by animal tracks. The chapter also details the explosion of mice and rat populations, the subsequent increase in predators like weasels, hawks, and foxes, and the feralization of cats and dogs, leading to new wild species.

## Themes in this chapter

### Collapse of Civilization

The entire chapter is a detailed account of the physical and ecological consequences of civilization's end, as fields, roads, and buildings are reclaimed by nature.

### Nature and Wilderness

The chapter focuses on the relentless growth of plants, the formation of forests and marshes, and the adaptation of animal populations, portraying nature's dominance over human structures.

### Loss of Knowledge

The text mentions that the foundations of ancient buildings are now buried deep and inaccessible, and that many species of dogs are extinct, indicating a loss of both physical and cultural knowledge.

## Key lines

> The old men say their fathers told them that soon after the fields were left to themselves a change began to be visible.

Elders recount that shortly after the fields were abandoned, a transformation became apparent.

_This opening establishes the oral tradition and the passage of time since the collapse._

> By the thirtieth year there was not one single open place, the hills only excepted, where a man could walk, unless he followed the tracks of wild creatures or cut himself a path.

After thirty years, the only walkable areas were hilltops, unless one used animal trails or cut a new route.

_This summarizes the extent of the forest's encroachment after three decades._

> Thus, too, the sites of many villages and towns that anciently existed along the rivers, or on the lower lands adjoining, were concealed by the water and the mud it brought with it.

Many ancient riverside villages and towns were hidden by floodwaters and silt.

_This describes the burial of former settlements under water and sediment._

> The extraordinary multiplication of these creatures was the means of providing food for the cats that had been abandoned in the towns, and came forth into the country in droves.

The explosion in mouse numbers supplied food for abandoned town cats that moved into the countryside in large groups.

_This explains how the mouse population surge supported feral cats._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/after_london_se/chapters/i-the-great-forest
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/after_london_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/after_london_se/chapters