Summer, autumn, winter, spring, and summer again makes a year, and Cashore uses the changing seasons to mark time in Graceling so that we know how quickly it's passing at any given moment. But she's not just marking time here—there's often a correlation between what's going on in nature and what's happening for our characters. Let's take a look.

Summer in the City

The first seasonal mention comes from Lord Davit, who tells Katsa at dinner, "The weather has been very kind to my aging father this summer, My Lady" (7.72), so we know what time of year it is right away.

This is the night after Katsa has returned from rescuing Tealiff, and it's also the night she first meets Po—for real this time, not just long enough to knock him out and drug him without really knowing who he is. After that night's Council meeting, they decide to train together, and we might think that very little time has passed between that night and the next scene (on the next page) if not for another seasonal mention:

The days were beginning to shorten. The air would crispen soon, and the castle would smell of wood burning in the fireplaces. The leaves would crackle under her horse's hooves when she went riding. (11.7)

So even though we've only turned one page, a few weeks have passed. Good to know. It makes it much easier to believe that Katsa and Po have had time to grow close enough for her to be majorly bummed when she discovers that he hasn't told her the truth about his Grace. It's also much easier to believe that she'd decide to travel with him despite this gaffe when she leaves Randa's court.

Fall Foliage

Katsa and Po travel throughout autumn, and (forgive us for this sappy simile, but) their love bursts into full color like the trees, which all "seemed to change color at once, the leaves orange and yellow and crimson, and purple and brown." (21.46)

Sorry. You can take a quick break to gag, but come right back, because as Katsa and Po approach Leck, they also approach winter, which is a time for things to die, right? Or if not die, at least go into hibernation. Or stagnate. Which Katsa and Po's relationship kind of does.

Winter Winds

By the time Katsa has abandoned Po and fled from the still alive and still lying, lecherous Leck, winter has begun. Katsa and Bitterblue reach Sunder "at winter's outset" (34.2), and it's cold enough that a yelling innkeeper's "breath froze in the air" (31.3).

Back at the end of autumn Ashen died, along with all the warm weather plants and grass and crops. And in winter a few things die, too: Leck, some of his guards, and… Po's hope. But hey, that long slog after the holidays and before spring? Yeah, well, it's kind of the season for quiet and tranquility—but also for depression. And Po's depressed.

He stays that way for a fair portion of the winter. After he admits his blindness to Katsa, "a squall kicked up" (38.1), and "on the heels of that storm came another, and after that storm another, as if winter had torn up the schedule and decided it wasn't going to end after all" (38.2).

Hope Springs Eternal

It's not until the end of winter that Po's hope returns, and in the spring, "as the snow melted and the yard turned into a morass of mud" (39.4), his strength returns as well and he finally beats his brother in a skirmish. Bitterblue's coronation also takes place in the spring, which is appropriate as spring is typically a time of rebirth and new beginnings. And then, when summer rolls around again, we find our lovers, Katsa and Po, together once more, planning for the autumn to come.

Turn, Turn, Turn

So while the changing seasons help keep us aware of the passage of time as we make our way through Graceling, they also help to emphasize the action: Katsa and Po's attraction begins in the heat of summer; they're a cozy couple curled up next to campfires in autumn, with an ominous feeling of the desolation to come; winter brings death, destruction, and a fair amount of stagnation (think Po, unable to get out of his own head); and then spring comes on the scene for a little resurrection and renewal, hope and new beginnings.

There's a lot of symmetry and symbolism here. We like it.