Sun, Storm, Snow And Streams

Many times in his historical novels, Poul Anderson begins a new chapter not with a character's thoughts, words or deeds but with the changing seasons because, in previous centuries, these changes determined human activities throughout the year. I think that the following is a particularly effective chapter opening:

"The sun swung onward, higher and higher into the new year. Livestock began to bring forth young. Storm-winds hurled flights of chilly rain. Snow melted patch by patch; streamlets gurgled; mud squelped underfoot. Men spoke of plowing and seeding..."
-Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003), Book One, Chapter IX, p. 42.

This paragraph continues about women, children, youths, maidens and oldsters. But named men, individuals, do not come on stage until the following paragraph. Thus, the chapter opens with sun, animals, wind, rain, snow, streams, mud and people in general before focusing on any particular people. Imagine the comparative poverty of a text that began with the two mens' conversation. And some readers probably skip past the natural descriptions to get to the plot. But please reread Anderson to appreciate his prose and always fresh observations of nature.