Analysis of September

Helen Hunt Jackson 1830 (Amherst, Massachusetts) – 1885 (San Francisco)



1     The golden-rod is yellow;
2       The corn is turning brown;
3     The trees in apple orchards
4       With fruit are bending down.

5     The gentian's bluest fringes
6       Are curling in the sun;
7     In dusty pods the milkweed
8       Its hidden silk has spun.

9     The sedges flaunt their harvest,
10     In every meadow nook;
11   And asters by the brook-side
12     Make asters in the brook,

13   From dewy lanes at morning
14     The grapes' sweet odors rise;
15   At noon the roads all flutter
16     With yellow butterflies.

17   By all these lovely tokens
18     September days are here,
19   With summer's best of weather,
20     And autumn's best of cheer.

21   But none of all this beauty
22     Which floods the earth and air
23   Is unto me the secret
24     Which makes September fair.

25   'T is a thing which I remember;
26     To name it thrills me yet:
27   One day of one September
28     I never can forget.


Scheme XAXA XBXB XCXC XDED XXEX XFXF EGEG
Poetic Form Quatrain  (86%)
Metre 0101110 011101 0101010 111101 011010 110001 010101 110111 011110 010011 0101011 110001 1101110 011101 1101110 11010 1111010 010111 1101110 010111 1111110 110101 1101010 110101 110111010 111111 1111010 110101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 921
Words 168
Sentences 7
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 92
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

51 sec read
170

Helen Hunt Jackson

Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske, was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. more…

All Helen Hunt Jackson poems | Helen Hunt Jackson Books

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