Analysis of A Song of Autumn

Adam Lindsay Gordon 1833 – 1870



‘WHERE shall we go for our garlands glad  
 At the falling of the year,  
When the burnt-up banks are yellow and sad,  
 When the boughs are yellow and sere?  
Where are the old ones that once we had,          
 And when are the new ones near?  
What shall we do for our garlands glad  
 At the falling of the year?’  
‘Child! can I tell where the garlands go?  
 Can I say where the lost leaves veer          
On the brown-burnt banks, when the wild winds blow,  
 When they drift through the dead-wood drear?  
Girl! when the garlands of next year glow,  
 You may gather again, my dear—  
But I go where the last year’s lost leaves go          
 At the falling of the year.’


Scheme aBababaBcbcbcbcB
Poetic Form
Metre 111111011 1010101 1011111001 10111001 110111111 0110111 111111011 1010101 11111011 11110111 1011110111 11110111 11011111 11100111 1111011111 1010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 682
Words 125
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 471
Words per stanza (avg) 121
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
71

Adam Lindsay Gordon

Adam Lindsay Gordon was an Australian poet, jockey and politician. more…

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