Analysis of Autumn Woods
William Cullen Bryant 1794 (Cummington) – 1878 (New York City)
Ere, in the northern gale,
The summer tresses of the trees are gone,
The woods of Autumn, all around our vale,
Have put their glory on.
The mountains that infold,
In their wide sweep, the coloured landscape round,
Seem groups of giant kings, in purple and gold,
That guard the enchanted ground.
I roam the woods that crown
The upland, where the mingled splendours glow,
Where the gay company of trees look down
On the green fields below.
My steps are not alone
In these bright walks; the sweet south-west, at play,
Flies, rustling, where the painted leaves are strown
Along the winding way.
And far in heaven, the while,
The sun, that sends that gale to wander here,
Pours out on the fair earth his quiet smile,--
The sweetest of the year.
Where now the solemn shade,
Verdure and gloom where many branches meet;
So grateful, when the noon of summer made
The valleys sick with heat?
Let in through all the trees
Come the strange rays; the forest depths are bright?
Their sunny-coloured foliage, in the breeze,
Twinkles, like beams of light.
The rivulet, late unseen,
Where bickering through the shrubs its waters run,
Shines with the image of its golden screen,
And glimmerings of the sun.
But 'neath yon crimson tree,
Lover to listening maid might breathe his flame,
Nor mark, within its roseate canopy,
Her blush of maiden shame.
Oh, Autumn! why so soon
Depart the hues that make thy forests glad;
Thy gentle wind and thy fair sunny noon,
And leave thee wild and sad!
Ah! 'twere a lot too blessed
For ever in thy coloured shades to stray;
Amid the kisses of the soft south-west
To rove and dream for aye;
And leave the vain low strife
That makes men mad--the tug for wealth and power,
The passions and the cares that wither life,
And waste its little hour.
Scheme | ABAX CCCC DEDE XFBF GXGX CCCC HCHC IJIJ KLKL MCMC CFCX NONO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 100101 0101010111 01110101101 111101 01011 011101011 11110101001 1100101 110111 010101011 1011001111 101101 111101 0111011111 1101010111 010101 0101001 0111111101 1110111101 010101 110101 101110101 1101011101 010111 101101 1011010111 1101010001 101111 01101 11001011101 1101011101 01101 111101 10110011111 11011100100 011101 110111 0101111101 1101011101 011101 110111 1100110111 0101010111 110111 010111 11110111010 0100011101 0111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,718 |
Words | 318 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 116 Views
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"Autumn Woods" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40276/autumn-woods>.
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