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Anne of Avonlea · Chapter
Epigraph explained
The chapter opens with a poetic epigraph by Whittier, celebrating a woman whose presence transforms duty and rigidity into beauty and grace.
What happens
The chapter opens with a poetic epigraph by Whittier, celebrating a woman whose presence transforms duty and rigidity into beauty and grace.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Beauty
The epigraph uses floral imagery to suggest that beauty can emerge from even the most rigid or dutiful paths.
Key passages
“Flowers spring to blossom where she walks The careful ways of duty, Our hard, stiff lines of life with her Are flowing curves of beauty.”
Wherever she goes, even in the most dutiful and rigid routines, she brings life and grace, turning harshness into elegance.
The epigraph sets a tone of gentle transformation and the power of a kind, imaginative spirit.