The Waves Chapter 8a Summary

  • The sun is sinking. Having been "robbed of light," the waves look like grey stone as they come ashore (8b.1).
  • There's a breeze rustling the leaves. A hawk takes off from its branch, and there are sounds of plover in the marshes crying. Also, smoke from chimneys and trains is rising into the sky.
  • The corn is now cut. An owl launches off an elm tree. There's a still pool of water, now undisturbed by animals. Meanwhile, a bird is perched on a twig while drinking cold water from an unnamed source. There's also a bone lying on the ground. Finally, there's a tree bending in the wind that has lost its foliage.
  • The narrator now speaks from a place so remote that no roof or window can be seen. Clouds and rain are what remain (though there is the occasional "darting spear of sunshine"), and there are some lone trees on distant hills (8a.7).
  • Now the narrator describes how objects in a room (again, presumably the same room referenced in previous introductions) appear in the evening sunlight.
  • Meanwhile, on the beach, shadows get longer and the waning light is transforming the colors of the objects and landscape there.