Charles E. Burchfield, “The August North,” text written on the back of the painting, August 1917

“THE AUGUST NORTH”  In August, at the last fading of twilight, the North assumed to the child a fearful aspect (that colored his thoughts even into early manhood).  A Melancholy settles down over the child’s world; he is as if in a tomb.  He thinks all his loved ones are gone away, or dead; the ghostly white petunias droop with sadness; un-named terrors lurk in the black caverns under bushes and trees.  As the darkness settles down the pulsating chorus of night insects commences, swelling louder and louder until it resembles the heart-like beat of the interior of a black closet.

Charles E. Burchfield, August 1917