Analysis of The Autumn
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them --
The summer flowers depart --
Sit still -- as all transform'd to stone,
Except your musing heart.
How there you sat in summer-time,
May yet be in your mind;
And how you heard the green woods sing
Beneath the freshening wind.
Though the same wind now blows around,
You would its blast recall;
For every breath that stirs the trees,
Doth cause a leaf to fall.
Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth
That flesh and dust impart:
We cannot bear its visitings,
When change is on the heart.
Gay words and jests may make us smile,
When Sorrow is asleep;
But other things must make us smile,
When Sorrow bids us weep!
The dearest hands that clasp our hands, --
Their presence may be o'er;
The dearest voice that meets our ear,
That tone may come no more!
Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,
Which once refresh'd our mind,
Shall come -- as, on those sighing woods,
The chilling autumn wind.
Hear not the wind -- view not the woods;
Look out o'er vale and hill-
In spring, the sky encircled them --
The sky is round them still.
Come autumn's scathe -- come winter's cold --
Come change -- and human fate!
Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,
Can ne'er be desolate.
Scheme | ABXBCDXD XEXEBFGF XDGDHIHI XXXXXEJE JACAXXBX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (23%) |
Metre | 11010101 011101 11010101 111101 01011111 0101001 11110111 011101 11110101 111011 01110111 0101001 10111101 11111 110011101 110111 11111101 110101 110111 111101 11011111 110101 11011111 110111 010111101 1101110 010111101 111111 11010111 1101101 11111101 010101 11011101 1110101 01010101 011111 11011101 110101 10101011 111100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,376 |
Words | 248 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 199 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 152 Views
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"The Autumn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10389/the-autumn>.
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