Autumn Song I
Shortly we will plunge within the frigid gloom,Farewell swift summer brightness; all too short--I hear already sounding with a death-like boomThe wood that falls upon the pavement of the court.
The whole of winter enters in my Being--pain,Hate, honor, labour hard and forced--and dread,And like the northern sun upon its polar planeMy heart will soon be but a stone, iced and red.
I listen trembling unto every log that falls,The scaffold, which they build, has not a duller sound,My spirits waver, like the trembling tower wallsthat shake--with every echoing blow the builders pound.
Meeseemeth--as to these monotonous blows I sway,They nail for one a coffin lid, or sound a knell--For whom? Autumn now--and summer yesterday!This strange mysterious noise betokens a farewell.
Words in this poem
- shortly adv.
- In a short or brief time or manner; soon; quickly. [AS. sceortlice.]
- iced a.
- Covered with ice; chilled with ice; as, iced water.
- duller n.
- One who, or that which, dulls.
- waver v. i.
- To play or move to and fro; to move one way and the other; hence, to totter; to reel; to swing; to flutter. [OE. waveren, from AS. wæfre wavering, restless. See Wave, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Autumn Song I is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Flowers of Evil, Project Gutenberg ebook #36098; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charles Baudelaire, Autumn Song I, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/autumn-song-i.html, id L25421.
Form and metre
Autumn Song I is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in alexandrines.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB gloomA · shortB · boomA · courtB
- 2 ABAB painA · dreadB · planeA · redB
- 3 ABAB fallsA · soundB · wallsA · poundB
- 4 ABAB swayA · knellB · yesterdayA · farewellB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Shortly we will plunge within the frigid gloom, | 11 | /˘······/˘· |
| Farewell swift summer brightness; all too short-- | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘··· |
| I hear already sounding with a death-like boom | 12 | ··˘/˘/˘····· |
| The wood that falls upon the pavement of the court. | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| The whole of winter enters in my Being--pain, | 12 | ···/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Hate, honor, labour hard and forced--and dread, | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| And like the northern sun upon its polar plane | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| My heart will soon be but a stone, iced and red. | 11 | ··········· |
| I listen trembling unto every log that falls, | 14 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘˘··· |
| The scaffold, which they build, has not a duller sound, | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| My spirits waver, like the trembling tower walls | 13 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘/˘· |
| that shake--with every echoing blow the builders pound. | 14 | ···/˘˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| Meeseemeth--as to these monotonous blows I sway, | 13 | ······˘/˘˘··· |
| They nail for one a coffin lid, or sound a knell-- | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| For whom? Autumn now--and summer yesterday! | 11 | ··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| This strange mysterious noise betokens a farewell. | 13 | ··˘/˘˘······/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.