Tristram Shandy

Tristram Shandy

by

Laurence Sterne

A bowling green is a closely mowed lawn used to play lawn bowling or, in Toby and Trim’s case, build model fortifications.

Bowling Green Quotes in Tristram Shandy

The Tristram Shandy quotes below are all either spoken by Bowling Green or refer to Bowling Green. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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).
Book 6: Chapters 31-35 Quotes

—In cases like this, corporal, said my uncle Toby, slipping his right hand down to the middle of his cane, and holding it afterwards truncheon-wise, with his forefinger extended,—’tis no part of the consideration of a commandant, what the enemy dare,—or what they dare not do; he must act with prudence. We will begin with the outworks both towards the sea and the land, and particularly with fort Louis, the most distant of them all, and demolish it first,—and the rest, one by one, both on our right and left, as we retreat towards the town;—then we’ll demolish the mole,—next fill up the harbour,—then retire into the citadel, and blow it up into the air; and having done that, corporal, we’ll embark for England.—We are there, quoth the corporal, recollecting himself—Very true, said my uncle Toby—looking at the church.

Related Characters: Uncle Toby (speaker), Corporal Trim (speaker)
Page Number: 418-419
Explanation and Analysis:
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Tristram Shandy PDF

Bowling Green Term Timeline in Tristram Shandy

The timeline below shows where the term Bowling Green appears in Tristram Shandy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2: Chapters 1-5
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Language and Comprehension Theme Icon
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...he agrees with Trim’s plan. Toby owns a small house near Walter’s, which has a bowling green in the yard perfect for their purposes. Though Toby and Trim’s campaigns are a great... (full context)
Book 3: Chapters 22-28
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...of their romances later. In the meantime, he describes how Trim met Bridget on the bowling green at night. By the morning, Toby’s model drawbridge over the ditch had been crushed and... (full context)
Book 4: Chapters 1-6
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...his life. This further heartens Walter, until Toby confesses that he has left Trim the bowling green and a pension. (full context)
Book 5: Chapters 15-21
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Chapter 19. Trim and Toby examine the bowling green with satisfaction, having just added several new models to the fortifications. To build them, Trim... (full context)
Book 6: Chapters 21-25
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling  Theme Icon
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...has only their own lack of imagination to blame if they struggle to picture Toby’s bowling green , since Tristram has described it very well. The bowling green had a particularly lucky... (full context)
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...more expensive model bridges and gates, and eventually builds a sentry box to observe the bowling green even when it rains. (full context)
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...dressed with his wig and sword that he is half an hour late to the bowling green . (full context)
Book 6: Chapters 26-30
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Chapter 27. Trim goes out to the bowling green ten minutes before Toby to first a few first shots, using both Turkish tobacco pipes... (full context)
Book 6: Chapters 31-35
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...liberty and honor from the ambitious and the wicked. The pleasure Toby takes from his bowling green is therefore not frivolous but expressing a vital part of his spirit. (full context)
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...are no sieges from March to November, and the only time Toby spends on the bowling green is spent demolishing the fortifications of Dunkirk, as the treaty stipulates. Toby closely follows the... (full context)
Book 8: Chapters 11-14
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...to have lived anywhere else but next door to widow Wadman, whose garden adjoins the bowling green . Tristram describes how Widow Wadman built a wicker gate next to Toby’s sentry box,... (full context)
Book 8: Chapters 22-28
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Sexuality and Propriety Theme Icon
...as the plan of Dunkirk hanging in the sentry box no longer corresponds to the bowling green , forcing her to improvise.  (full context)
Book 9: Chapters 1-5
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...that none of Walter’s arguments could ever be so convincing. Toby looks back at the bowling green apprehensively, and Trim realizes that he must exorcize the desire for freedom he just revived... (full context)
Book 9: Chapters 6-10
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...that he loves mankind most and says that the goal of their sieges on the bowling green is to protect liberty from the ambitious. Toby and Trim march off down the road,... (full context)