Analysis of October in New Zealand

Jessie Mackay 1864 (Rakaia Gorge) – 1938 (Christchurch)




O JUNE has her diamonds, her diamonds of sheen,   
Meet for a queen’s neck, if Death had e’er a queen!   
June has her blue days, jewels of delight,   
Set in the ivory of Alp-land white,—   
But October, October’s the lady o’ the year!           

O January’s garland is redder than the rose,   
And the wine-red ruby of January glows   
All the way to madness and half the way to sin,   
When sleep is in the poppy and fire is in the whin!   
But October, October’s the lady o’ the year!           

October will ride in a mantle o’ the vair,   
With the flower o’ the quince in her dew-wet hair;   
October will ride to the gates of the day,   
With the bluebells ringing on her maiden way;—   
For October, October’s the lady o’ the year!


Scheme aabbC ddxaC cxeec
Poetic Form
Metre 11101001011 11011111101 1101110101 1001001111 10101010101 1110110101 00111011001 101110010111 11100100101001 10101010101 010110010101 101010100111 01011101101 1011010101 10101010101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 764
Words 137
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 171
Words per stanza (avg) 44
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

41 sec read
56

Jessie Mackay

Jessie Mackay (1864 in Rakaia Gorge – 23 August 1938, in Christchurch) was a New Zealand poet and animal rights activist. more…

All Jessie Mackay poems | Jessie Mackay Books

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