The Death of the Flowers
The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sear.Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead;They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread.The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay,And from the wood-top calls the crow through all the gloomy day.
Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprang and stoodIn brighter light, and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood?Alas! they all are in their graves, the gentle race, of flowersAre lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good of ours.The rain is falling where they lie, but the cold November rainCalls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely ones again.
The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago,And the brier-rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow;But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood,And the yellow sun-flower by the brook in autumn beauty stood,Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the plague on men,And the brightness of their smile was gone, from upland, glade, and glen.
And now, when comes the calm mild day, as still such days will come,To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home;When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still,And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill,The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore,And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more.
And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died,The fair meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side:In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forest cast the leaf,And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief:Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours,So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers.
Words in this poem
- rustle v. i.
- To make a quick succession of small sounds, like the rubbing or moving of silk cloth or dry leaves. [AS. hristlan to rustle; or cf. Sw. rusta to stir, make a riot, or E. rush, v.]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- sisterhood n.
- The state or relation of being a sister; the office or duty of a sister. [Sister + hood.]
- brier n.
- A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax. [OE. brere, brer, AS. brer, brær; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- unmeet a.
- Not meet or fit; not proper; unbecoming; unsuitable; -- usually followed by for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Death of the Flowers is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, The Death of the Flowers, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/the-death-of-the-flowers.html, id L07293.
Form and metre
The Death of the Flowers is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABBCC yearA · searA · deadB · treadB · jayC · dayC
- 2 AABBCC stoodA · sisterhoodA · flowersB · oursB · rainC · againC
- 3 AABBCC agoA · glowA · woodB · stoodB · menC · glenC
- 4 AABBCC comeA · homeA · stillB · rillB · boreC · moreC
- 5 AABBCC diedA · sideA · leafB · briefB · oursC · flowersC
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 iambic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, | 14 | ·/˘·˘····/˘··· |
| Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sear. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘··/···· |
| Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead; | 14 | ···/˘····/˘··· |
| They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay, | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| And from the wood-top calls the crow through all the gloomy day. | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprang and stood | 14 | ···/···/·/˘··· |
| In brighter light, and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood? | 13 | ·/··/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Alas! they all are in their graves, the gentle race, of flowers | 14 | ˘/·······/˘··/ |
| Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good of ours. | 15 | ·/˘··/˘·······/ |
| The rain is falling where they lie, but the cold November rain | 15 | ···/˘······˘/˘· |
| Calls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely ones again. | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago, | 13 | ··/··/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| And the brier-rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow; | 15 | ··/···/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood, | 15 | ·····/˘···/˘··· |
| And the yellow sun-flower by the brook in autumn beauty stood, | 15 | ··/˘·/····/˘/˘· |
| Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the plague on men, | 15 | ········/······ |
| And the brightness of their smile was gone, from upland, glade, and glen. | 15 | ··/˘······/˘··· |
| And now, when comes the calm mild day, as still such days will come, | 14 | ·············· |
| To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home; | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still, | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore, | 14 | ···/˘··/·/˘··· |
| And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more. | 14 | ·············· |
| And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died, | 14 | ·········/˘/˘· |
| The fair meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side: | 14 | ···/˘····/˘··· |
| In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forest cast the leaf, | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief: | 14 | ······/˘······ |
| Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours, | 14 | ··˘/·········/ |
| So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers. | 13 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘··/ |
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