A contemplation on life and death, triggered by the slow demise of a moth against the windowpane, opens this collection of 26 essays of various kinds. It is followed by sketches such as 'Evening over Sussex', literary-critical and biographical essays on Henry James or E. M. Forster, reflections on 'The Art of Biography', primarily dedicated to Lytton Strachey, a 'Letter to a Young Poet', the lecture 'Careers for Women', and an exploration of Virginia Woolf's own personal and artistic development. The collection concludes with 'Thoughts on Peace During an Air Raid', written in August 1940. These works from all periods of Virginia Woolf's creative life reveal the full richness of her knowledge and thought, as well as the diversity of her creative possibilities.