I recently bought a book in the bookshop I volunteer in about the four seasons. It is poetry by many famous literary figures across history. As a twist to the usual quote layout and reflection of it in the blog, I am going to share a selection of lines from different points of autumn poems with you. Certain lines jumped out at me and resonated what autumn means and symbolises.
- “Autumn”- “All day I have watched the purple vine leaves
Fall into the water. And now in the moonlight they still fall, But each leaf is fringed with silver” (Amy Lowell- pg 130)
A beautiful short poem I have shared here in full about the process of the leaves falling and the beautiful colours they hold both during day and night. They represent the turning of the season as trees prepare for winter.
- “Autumn (A Fragment)”- “Autumn, I know, is commonly berated: That sentiment, dear reader, isn’t mine; I love it for its quietly glowing beauty” (Alexander Pushkin- Translated by Antony Wood, part of verse 5- pg 141)
This is a long poem that details what autumn means to the speaker. I like how they speak of its “quietly glowing beauty” and a season to be celebrated rather than seen as merely a sad trudge time towards winter as the speaker feels others berate it for.
- “The Fall Of The Leaf”- “The threadbare trees so poor and thin/ They are no wealthier than I, /But with as brave a core within/ They rear their boughs to the October sky” (Henry David Thoreau- pg 161)
Another observation of the process of trees losing their leaves but still having a proud and mighty look about them and the speaker compares their situation to the trees- not wealthy in money but rich in spirit.
I hope these three poem extracts, full poem in the case of the first one, have inspired you to look into each of these writers more and helped you gain a new perspective on both the importance and beauty of autumn. I love a poetry collection and seeing a mix of writers from a range of generations each sharing a collective love of the changing seasons.
Autumn seeks to show the peak time for trees and plants/flowers and crops but it is inspiring that they are not giving up, merely preparing for the next chapter of their yearly cycle and metaphorically reflecting on the immediate seasons before and after autumn. I feel as a young writer, this is symbolic of life because we need natural pauses to take a check where we are at, prepare for the next chapter then move forward. I hope you will feel encouraged to seek this lovely poetry collection out by the Everyman library.
Work cited- McClatchy, D, J. The Four Seasons- Poems. 1st Edition. Alfred A. Knopf. (An Everyman Library Collection book). 2008.