What the Swallows Say: An Autumn Song
The dry, brown leaves have dropped forlorn,And lie amid the golden grass.The wind is fresh both eve and morn.But where are summer days, alas!
The tardy flowers the autumn stayedFor latter treasures now unfold.The dahlia dons its gay cockade,Its flaming cap the marigold.
Rain stirs the pool with pelt and shock.The swallows to the roof repair,Confabulating as they flockAnd feel the winter in the air.
By hundreds gather they to vowTheir little yearnings and intents.Saith one: "'T is fair in Athens now,Upon the sun-warm battlements!
"Thither I go to take my napUpon the Parthenon high and free.My cornice nest is in the gapA cannon-ball made there for me."
And one: "A ceiling meets my needsWithin a Smyrna coffee-house,Where Hadjis tell their amber beadsUpon the threshold luminous.
"I go and come above the folk,While their chibouques their clouds upfling.I skim along through silver smoke,And graze the turbans with my wing."
Another: "There's a triglyph grayOn one of Baalbec's temples high.'T is there I go to brood all dayAbove my little family."
Another calleth, "My addressIs settled: 'At the Knights of Rhodes.'In a dark colonnade's recessI'll make the snuggest of abodes."
"Old age hath made me slow for flight,"Declares a fifth; "I'll rest at evenOn Malta's terraces of white,Where blue sea melts to blue of heaven."
A sixth: "In Cairo is my home,Up in a minaret's retreat:A twig or two, a bit of loam--My winter lodgings are complete."
A last: "The Second CataractShall mark my place--the nest of brownA granite king doth hold intactWithin the circle of his crown."
And all together sing: "What milesTo-morrow shall have stretched beneathOur fleeing swarm:--remembered isles,Snow peaks, vast waters, lands of heath!"
With calls and cries and beat of wings,Grown eager now and venturesome,The swallows hold their twitterings,To see the blight of winter come.
And I--I understand them all,Because the poet is a bird,--Oh! but a sorry bird, and thrallTo a great lack, pressed heavenward.
It's Oh for wings! to seek the star,To count the seas when day is done,To breast the air with swallows far,To verdant spring, to golden sun!
Words in this poem
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- 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]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- yearnings n.
- The maws, or stomachs, of young calves, used a rennet for curdling milk. [Cf. AS. geirnan, geyrnan, to rum. See 4th Earn.]
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- 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,]
- intact a.
- Untouched, especially by anything that harms, defiles, or the like; uninjured; undefiled; left complete or entire. Buckle. [L. intactus; pref. in- not + tactus, p. p. of tangere to touch: cf. F. intact. See In- not, and Tact, Tangent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
What the Swallows Say: An Autumn Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, the Agnes Lee translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Théophile Gautier, What the Swallows Say: An Autumn Song, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/what-the-swallows-say-an-autumn-song.html, id L27021.
Form and metre
What the Swallows Say: An Autumn Song is 64 lines in 16 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 14 of its 16 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABAB forlornA · grassB · mornA · alasB
- 2 ABAB stayedA · unfoldB · cockadeA · marigoldB
- 3 ABAB shockA · repairB · flockA · airB
- 4 ABAB vowA · intentsB · nowA · battlementsB
- 5 ABAB napA · freeB · gapA · meB
- 6 ABAB needsA · houseB · beadsA · luminousB
- 7 ABAB folkA · upflingB · smokeA · wingB
- 8 A-A- grayA · high · dayA · family
- 9 ABAB addressA · rhodesB · recessA · abodesB
- 10 ABAB flightA · evenB · whiteA · heavenB
- 11 ABAB homeA · retreatB · loamA · completeB
- 12 -A-A cataract · brownA · intact · crownA
- 13 ABAB milesA · beneathB · islesA · heathB
- 14 ABAB wingsA · venturesomeB · twitteringsA · comeB
- 15 ABAB allA · birdB · thrallA · heavenwardB
- 16 ABAB starA · doneB · farA · sunB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The dry, brown leaves have dropped forlorn, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And lie amid the golden grass. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| The wind is fresh both eve and morn. | 8 | ········ |
| But where are summer days, alas! | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The tardy flowers the autumn stayed | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| For latter treasures now unfold. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The dahlia dons its gay cockade, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Its flaming cap the marigold. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Rain stirs the pool with pelt and shock. | 8 | ········ |
| The swallows to the roof repair, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Confabulating as they flock | 8 | ········ |
| And feel the winter in the air. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| By hundreds gather they to vow | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Their little yearnings and intents. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Saith one: "'T is fair in Athens now, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Upon the sun-warm battlements! | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| "Thither I go to take my nap | 8 | /˘······ |
| Upon the Parthenon high and free. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| My cornice nest is in the gap | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A cannon-ball made there for me." | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And one: "A ceiling meets my needs | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Within a Smyrna coffee-house, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Where Hadjis tell their amber beads | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Upon the threshold luminous. | 8 | ···/·/˘˘ |
| "I go and come above the folk, | 8 | ········ |
| While their chibouques their clouds upfling. | 8 | ········ |
| I skim along through silver smoke, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And graze the turbans with my wing." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Another: "There's a triglyph gray | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| On one of Baalbec's temples high. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'T is there I go to brood all day | 9 | ········· |
| Above my little family." | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Another calleth, "My address | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Is settled: 'At the Knights of Rhodes.' | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In a dark colonnade's recess | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| I'll make the snuggest of abodes." | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| "Old age hath made me slow for flight," | 8 | ········ |
| Declares a fifth; "I'll rest at even | 9 | ˘/·····/˘ |
| On Malta's terraces of white, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Where blue sea melts to blue of heaven." | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| A sixth: "In Cairo is my home, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Up in a minaret's retreat: | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| A twig or two, a bit of loam-- | 8 | ········ |
| My winter lodgings are complete." | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| A last: "The Second Cataract | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Shall mark my place--the nest of brown | 8 | ········ |
| A granite king doth hold intact | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Within the circle of his crown." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And all together sing: "What miles | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To-morrow shall have stretched beneath | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Our fleeing swarm:--remembered isles, | 8 | //˘·˘/˘· |
| Snow peaks, vast waters, lands of heath!" | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With calls and cries and beat of wings, | 8 | ········ |
| Grown eager now and venturesome, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The swallows hold their twitterings, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To see the blight of winter come. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And I--I understand them all, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Because the poet is a bird,-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Oh! but a sorry bird, and thrall | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To a great lack, pressed heavenward. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| It's Oh for wings! to seek the star, | 8 | ········ |
| To count the seas when day is done, | 8 | ········ |
| To breast the air with swallows far, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To verdant spring, to golden sun! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
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.