Analysis of Autumn’s Warnings
Augusta Davies Webster 1837 (Poole, Dorset) – 1894
SOFT voices of the woods, that make
The summer air a harmony,
Winged whispers through the leaves where wake
Long wind-wafts dying in a sigh,
Replies of birds from brake to brake,
Plash of the runnel on its stones,
Soft voices, sweet for summer's sake,
There is a word in all your tones,
A word that not till now ye spake,
'Goodbye, goodbye.'
And yet, see, dearest, overhead
The branches bar a sultry sky,
No earliest fleck of tanned or red
'Mid all the leafage far and nigh,
And, with their serried curves outspread,
The fresh green fern-fronds know no frost.
Nought gone; but still some grace is dead:
Nought changed; but still some hope is lost:
Listen, and every voice has said
'Goodbye, goodbye.'
We shall not see the summer wane,
But, with a start of memory,
When the long chills have come again,
Awake and know that it did die:
So slowest loss is sudden pain;
We have not known till all is o'er;
'Tis summer till the autumn's rain.
Yet has there stolen long before
That sadness through some sweetest strain
'Goodbye, goodbye.'
Ah, love, hear all the thought that grew;
Mock it away; I'll mock it, I:
Summer, and I sit here with you,
Your great eyes smiling tenderly,
Your silence wooing me to woo,
A meaning in your lightest word
As though love made it something new—
And what if all the while I heard
The autumn whisper sighing through
'Goodbye, goodbye'?
Scheme | abacadadaC ececefefeC gbxcgxgxgC hchbhihihC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11010111 01010100 11010111 11110001 01111111 1101111 11011101 11010111 01111111 11 01110101 01010101 110011111 1101101 011111 01111111 11111111 11111111 100100111 11 11110101 11011100 10111101 01011111 11011101 111111110 11010101 11110101 11011101 11 11110111 11011111 10011111 11110100 11010111 01001101 11111101 01110111 01010101 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,333 |
Words | 252 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 263 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 80 Views
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"Autumn’s Warnings" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4069/autumn%E2%80%99s-warnings>.
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