Monday or Tuesday by Virginia Woolf

Monday or Tuesday

Lazy and **indifferent**, shaking space easily from his wings, knowing his way, the heron passes over the church beneath the sky. White and distant, **absorbed** in itself, endlessly the sky covers and uncovers, moves and remains. A lake? Blot the shores of it out! A mountain? Oh, perfect—the sun gold on its slopes. Down that falls. Ferns then, or white feathers, for ever and ever——

Desiring truth, awaiting it, laboriously distilling a few words, for ever desiring—(a cry starts to the left, another to the right. Wheels strike divergently. Omnibuses **conglomerate** in conflict)—for ever desiring—(the clock **asseverates** with twelve distinct strokes that it is midday; light sheds gold scales; children swarm)—for ever desiring truth. Red is the dome; coins hang on the trees; smoke trails from the chimneys; bark, shout, cry "Iron for sale"—and truth?

**Radiating** to a point men's feet and women's feet, black or gold-**encrusted**—(This foggy weather—Sugar? No, thank you—The commonwealth of the future)—the firelight darting and making the room red, save for the black figures and their bright eyes, while outside a van discharges, Miss Thingummy drinks tea at her desk, and plate-glass preserves fur coats——

**Flaunted**, leaf-light, drifting at corners, blown across the wheels, silver-splashed, home or not home, gathered, scattered, **squandered** in separate scales, swept up, down, torn, sunk, assembled—and truth?

Now to **recollect** by the fireside on the white square of marble. From ivory **depths** words rising shed their blackness, blossom and **penetrate**. Fallen the book; in the flame, in the smoke, in the momentary sparks—or now voyaging, the marble square **pendant**, **minarets** beneath and the Indian seas, while space rushes blue and stars **glint**—truth? or now, content with closeness?

Lazy and **indifferent** the heron returns; the sky **veils** her stars; then bares them. (By Virginia Woolf.)

Vocabulary List

Here are important words from the excerpt that can help you understand it better. Try to guess their meaning from the context first, then check the definitions.

Comprehension Questions

Answer these questions about the excerpt from "Monday or Tuesday."

  1. How does the heron behave at the beginning and end of the passage?
  2. What does the sky do repeatedly in the first paragraph?
  3. What is the narrator "for ever desiring" throughout the passage?
  4. What happens at midday according to the clock?
  5. Where does the narrator attempt to "recollect" in the fifth paragraph?
  6. What kind of imagery is used to describe the "words rising" from "ivory depths"?
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