This quote by Virginia Woolf talks to the nostalgia of youth and the vastness of the memories and experiences that feature it. Woolf is describing childhood as a terrific cathedral area, suggesting that it is a location of grandeur and wonder. This might be translated as a metaphor for the vastness of childhood, with its seemingly limitless possibilities and opportunities. Woolf is most likely describing the innocence and happiness of youth, and how it can be a location of expedition and discovery. The quote also talks to the concept that childhood is a time of growth and advancement, and that it can be a place of spiritual and psychological growth. Woolf is likely suggesting that youth is a time of enormous potential, which it can be a place of terrific appeal and wonder.
"To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization"
"Having soon discovered to be great, I must appear so, and therefore studiously avoided mixing in society, and wrapped myself in mystery, devoting my time to fasting and prayer"