A White Heron

Jewett’s writing style in “A White Heron” is full of emotional imagery and rich descriptions. For much of the story, she captures the beauty of nature via sensory and figurative language. This comes across in passages like the following (when Sylvia is remembering when she first saw the white heron):

Sylvia’s heart gave a wild beat; she knew that strange white bird, and had once stolen softly near where it stood in some bright green swamp grass, away over at the other side of the woods. There was an open place where the sunshine always seemed strangely yellow and hot, where tall, nodding rushes grew, and her grandmother had warned her that she might sink in the soft black mud underneath and never be heard of more.

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