The End of Summer
Pods the poppies, and slim spires of podsThe hollyhocks; the balsam's pearly bredesOf rose-stained snow are little sacs of seedsCollapsing at a touch: the lote, that sodsThe pond with green, has changed its flowers to rodsAnd discs of vesicles; and all the weeds,Around the sleepy water and its reeds,Are one white smoke of seeded silk that nods.Summer is dead, ay me! sweet Summer's dead!The sunset clouds have built her funeral pyre,Through which, e'en now, runs subterranean fire:While from the east, as from a garden bed,Mist-vined, the Dusk lifts her broad moon--like someGreat golden melon--saying, "Fall has come."
Words in this poem
- lote v. i.
- To lurk; to lie hid. [AS. lutian.]
- pyre n.
- A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt. [L. pure, Gr. Fire.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The End of Summer is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, The End of Summer, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-end-of-summer.html, id L10971.
Form and metre
The End of Summer is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 A-BAABBACDDCEE podsA · bredes · seedsB · sodsA · rodsA · weedsB · reedsB · nodsA · deadC · pyreD · fireD · bedC · someE · comeE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Pods the poppies, and slim spires of pods | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| The hollyhocks; the balsam's pearly bredes | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Of rose-stained snow are little sacs of seeds | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Collapsing at a touch: the lote, that sods | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| The pond with green, has changed its flowers to rods | 10 | ·······/·· |
| And discs of vesicles; and all the weeds, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Around the sleepy water and its reeds, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Are one white smoke of seeded silk that nods. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Summer is dead, ay me! sweet Summer's dead! | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| The sunset clouds have built her funeral pyre, | 10 | ·/·····/˘/ |
| Through which, e'en now, runs subterranean fire: | 9 | ·····˘/˘/ |
| While from the east, as from a garden bed, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Mist-vined, the Dusk lifts her broad moon--like some | 10 | ·········· |
| Great golden melon--saying, "Fall has come." | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
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.