September
Wind and the robin’s note to-dayHave heard of autumn and betrayThe green long reign of summer.The rust is falling in the leaves,September stands beside the sheaves,The new, the happy comer.
Not sad my season of the redAnd russet orchards gaily spreadFrom Cholesbury to Cooming,Nor sad when twilit valley treesAre ships becalmed on misty seas,And beetles go abooming.
Now soon shall come the morning crowdsOf starlings, soon the coloured cloudsFrom oak and ash and willow,And soon the thorn and briar shall beRich in their crimson livery,In scarlet and in yellow.
Spring laughed and thrilled a million veins,And summer shone above her rainsTo fill September’s faring;September talks as kings who knowThe world’s way and superbly goIn robes of wisdom’s wearing.
Words in this poem
- comer n.
- One who comes, or who has come; one who has arrived, and is present. All comers, all who come, or offer, to take part in a matter, especially in a contest or controversy.
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- briar 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
September is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, September, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/september.html, id L23096.
Form and metre
September is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABCCB dayA · betrayA · summerB · leavesC · sheavesC · comerB
- 2 AABCCB redA · spreadA · coomingB · treesC · seasC · aboomingB
- 3 AA---- crowdsA · cloudsA · willow · be · livery · yellow
- 4 AA-BB- veinsA · rainsA · faring · knowB · goB · wearing
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Wind and the robin’s note to-day | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Have heard of autumn and betray | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The green long reign of summer. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The rust is falling in the leaves, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| September stands beside the sheaves, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| The new, the happy comer. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Not sad my season of the red | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And russet orchards gaily spread | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| From Cholesbury to Cooming, | 8 | ········ |
| Nor sad when twilit valley trees | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Are ships becalmed on misty seas, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And beetles go abooming. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Now soon shall come the morning crowds | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of starlings, soon the coloured clouds | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From oak and ash and willow, | 7 | ·····/· |
| And soon the thorn and briar shall be | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Rich in their crimson livery, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| In scarlet and in yellow. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Spring laughed and thrilled a million veins, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And summer shone above her rains | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To fill September’s faring; | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| September talks as kings who know | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| The world’s way and superbly go | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| In robes of wisdom’s wearing. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
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.