Analysis of Autumn Thoughts

John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)



Gone hath the Spring, with all its flowers,
And gone the Summer's pomp and show,
And Autumn, in his leafless bowers,
Is waiting for the Winter's snow.

I said to Earth, so cold and gray,
'An emblem of myself thou art.'
'Not so,' the Earth did seem to say,
'For Spring shall warm my frozen heart.'
I soothe my wintry sleep with dreams
Of warmer sun and softer rain,
And wait to hear the sound of streams
And songs of merry birds again.

But thou, from whom the Spring hath gone,
For whom the flowers no longer blow,
Who standest blighted and forlorn,
Like Autumn waiting for the snow;

No hope is thine of sunnier hours,
Thy Winter shall no more depart;
No Spring revive thy wasted flowers,
Nor Summer warm thy frozen heart.


Scheme ABAB CDCDEXEX XBXB ADAD
Poetic Form Etheree  (30%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 110111110 01010101 010011010 11010101 11111101 1101111 11011111 11111101 11110111 11010101 01110111 01110101 11110111 110101101 1110001 11010101 11111110 11011101 110111010 11011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 709
Words 139
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 8, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 139
Words per stanza (avg) 34
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

41 sec read
149

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. more…

All John Greenleaf Whittier poems | John Greenleaf Whittier Books

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