The Frozen Pond by Grant Allen
The Frozen Pond is a short story by Grant Allen about two boys who go ice skating on a frozen pond and one of them falls through the ice. The other boy tries to save him but fails, and the boy drowns. The story explores themes of friendship, bravery, and mortality.
By Grant Allen · First published 1897 · Genre: Nature Writing, Science, Educational · 1,235 words
First lines
THE pond on the moor is frozen over. What an epoch in the history of all its inhabitants! For they are not mostly long-lived creatures, these pond-dwellers; a summer forms an appreciable part of their short existence. Theirs is but a precarious life at the best of times; they have always to steer close between the Scylla of drought and the Charybdis of freezing. Half their days are spent in enforced seclusion. In the summer the pond, which is their universe, is apt to dry up and fail them; in winter it stands its even chance of freezing solid and entombing them. To meet these two extreme contingencies, all the world of the pond has had to accommodate itself to the possible chances of its fickle environment. The newts, for example, come here to breed every spring. They must needs do so, indeed, because their young have gills like a salmon or a herring, and can only breathe in their earlier stages the diffuse oxygen held in suspension in water.
What this Textopian page supports
The Frozen Pond is listed on Textopian as a short story by Grant Allen, dated 1897 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Grant Allen
- Date: 1897 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Nature Writing, Science, Educational, Non-Fiction, Essay
- Length: 1,235 words
- Structure: 1 section, 9 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Frozen Pond by Grant Allen
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering The Frozen Pond?
- How does this short story by Grant Allen fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
- Where does Nature Writing first become important in the reading?
Similar titles
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Genres
- Nature Writing — The text focuses on the natural history and life cycles of pond-dwelling creatures, emphasizing ecological and environmental themes.
- Science — The narrative provides scientific explanations of biological processes, such as the development of amphibians and their adaptation to environmental changes.
- Educational — The content is informative, aiming to educate readers about the life and survival strategies of various pond inhabitants.
- Non-Fiction — The work is factual, describing real-life phenomena and the behavior of animals in a specific ecosystem.
Tags
mystery · suspense · nature · psychological · thriller · crime · investigation · winter · isolation · human behavior · relationships · tension