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demure · 3403 days ago · link · · parent · post: How a Volcanic Eruption in 1815 Darkened the World but Colored the Arts
The poet, Li Yuyang, who was 32 as Tambora began its global rampage, wrote of cold downpours and flash flooding in “A Sigh for Autumn Rain.” People rush from falling houses in their thousands And tens of thousands, for the work of the rain Is worse than the work of thieves. Bricks crack. Walls fall. In an instant, the house is gone. He also profiles the wintry chill in Yunnan Province in southern China, a land of mountains and jungles roamed by tigers and elephants. Rice crops there quickly failed, and famine gnawed deep for years. In July 1816, Dr. Wood noted, the province had “unprecedented snows.”
Water spilling from the eaves deafens me.