Analysis of Earlier Poems : Autumn
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
With what a glory comes and goes the year!
The buds of spring, those beautiful harbingers
Of sunny skies and cloudless times, enjoy
Life's newness, and earth's garniture spread out;
And when the silver habit of the clouds
Comes down upon the autumn sun, and with
A sober gladness the old year takes up
His bright inheritance of golden fruits,
A pomp and pageant fill the splendid scene.
There is a beautiful spirit breathing now
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
And, from a beaker full of richest dyes,
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods,
And dipping in warm light the pillared clouds.
Morn on the mountain, like a summer bird,
Lifts up her purple wing, and in the vales
The gentle wind, a sweet and passionate wooer,
Kisses the blushing leaf, and stirs up life
Within the solemn woods of ash deep-crimsoned,
And silver beech, and maple yellow-leaved,
Where Autumn, like a faint old man, sits down
By the wayside a-weary. Through the trees
The golden robin moves. The purple finch,
That on wild cherry and red cedar feeds,
A winter bird, comes with its plaintive whistle,
And pecks by the witch-hazel, whilst aloud
From cottage roofs the warbling blue-bird sings,
And merrily, with oft-repeated stroke,
Sounds from the threshing-floor the busy flail.
O what a glory doth this world put on
For him who, with a fervent heart, goes forth
Under the bright and glorious sky, and looks
On duties well performed, and days well spent!
For him the wind, ay, and the yellow leaves,
Shall have a voice, and give him eloquent teachings.
He shall so hear the solemn hymn that Death
Has lifted up for all, that he shall go
To his long resting-place without a tear.
Scheme | AXXBCXXXX XDXXCXXAXBBXDXXXXEXX XXXXXEXXX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010101 01111100100 1101010101 11001111 0101010101 1101010101 010101111 1101001101 0101010101 11010010101 1101010101 0101011101 1011010101 0100110101 1101010101 1101010001 01010101001 1001010111 0101011111 0101010101 1101011111 101010101 0101010101 1111001101 01011111010 0110110101 11010100111 0100110101 110110101 1101011111 1111010111 10010100101 1101010111 1101100101 110101110010 1111010111 1101111111 1111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,636 |
Words | 295 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 20, 9 |
Lines Amount | 38 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 438 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 98 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 214 Views
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"Earlier Poems : Autumn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18567/earlier-poems-%3A-autumn>.
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