Analysis of Ode to Autumn

Thomas Hood 1799 (London) – 1845 (London)



I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadowless like Silence, listening
To silence, for no lonely bird would sing
Into his hollow ear from woods forlorn,
Nor lowly hedge nor solitary thorn;
Shaking his languid locks all dewy bright
With tangled gossamer that fell by night,
Pearling his coronet of golden corn.
Where are the songs of Summer?—With the sun,
Opening the dusky eyelids of the south,
Till shade and silence waken up as one,
And Morning sings with a warm odorous mouth.
Where are the merry birds?—Away, away,
On panting wings through the inclement skies,
Lest owls should prey
Undazzled at noon-day,
And tear with horny beak their lustrous eyes.
Where are the blooms of Summer?—In the west,
Blushing their last to the last sunny hours.
When the mild Eve by sudden Night is prest
Like tearful Proserpine, snatch'd from her flow'rs
To a most gloomy breast.
Where is the pride of Summer,—the green prime,—
The many, many leaves all twinkling?—Three
On the moss'd elm; three on the naked lime
Trembling,—and one upon the old oak tree!
Where is the Dryad's immortality?—
Gone into mournful cypress and dark yew,
Or wearing the long gloomy Winter through
In the smooth holly's green eternity.
The squirrel gloats on his accomplish'd hoard,
The ants have brimm'd their garners with ripe grain,
And honey been save stored
The sweets of summer in their luscious cells;
The swallows all have wing'd across the main;
But here the Autumn melancholy dwells,
And sighs her tearful spells
Amongst the sunless shadows of the plain.
Alone, alone,
Upon a mossy stone,
She sits and reckons up the dead and gone,
With the last leaves for a love-rosary;
Whilst all the wither'd world looks drearily,
Like a dim picture of the drownëd past
In the hush'd mind's mysterious far-away,
Doubtful what ghostly thing will steal the last
Into that distance, gray upon the gray.
O go and sit with her, and be o'ershaded
Under the languid downfall of her hair;
She wears a coronal of flowers faded
Upon her forehead, and a face of care;—
There is enough of wither'd everywhere
To make her bower,—and enough of gloom;
There is enough of sadness to invite,
If only for the rose that died, whose doom
Is Beauty's,—she that with the living bloom
Of conscious cheeks most beautifies the light:
There is enough of sorrowing, and quite
Enough of bitter fruits the earth doth bear,—
Enough of chilly droppings from her bowl;
Enough of fear and shadowy despair,
To frame her cloudy prison for the soul!


Scheme ABBAACCADEDEFGFFGHIHGHJKJKKLLKMNMONOONPPQKRSFSFCTUTTVCVVCCTRTR
Poetic Form
Metre 1111000101 11110100 1101110111 0111011101 110111001 1011011101 1101001111 1011011101 1101110101 100011101 1101010111 01011011001 1101010101 1101100101 1111 1111 0111011101 1101110001 10111011010 1011110111 11011101 101101 1101110011 01010111001 1011110101 10001010111 11010100 1011010011 1100110101 0011010100 0101110101 0111110111 010111 0111001101 0101110101 110101001 010101 01011101 0101 01011 1101010101 1011101100 11010111 1011010111 00110100101 1011011101 0111010101 110110011 100101101 110111010 0101000111 110111010 1101000111 1101110101 1101011111 111110101 11011101 11011101 0111010111 0111010101 0111010001 1101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,509
Words 442
Sentences 16
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 62
Lines Amount 62
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,957
Words per stanza (avg) 428
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:16 min read
116

Thomas Hood

Thomas Hood was a British humorist and poet. His son, Tom Hood, became a well known playwright and editor. more…

All Thomas Hood poems | Thomas Hood Books

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