Autumn Song
Now’s the time when children’s nosesAll become as red as rosesAnd the colour of their facesMakes me think of orchard placesWhere the juicy apples growAnd tomatoes in a row.
And to-day the hardened sinnerNever could be late for dinner,But will jump up to the tableJust as soon as he is able,Ask for three times hot roast mutton—Oh! the shocking little glutton.
Come then, find your ball and racket,Pop into your winter jacket,With the lovely bear-skin lining.While the sun is brightly shining,Let us run and play togetherAnd just love the autumn weather.
Words in this poem
- sinner n.
- One who has sinned; especially, one who has sinned without repenting; hence, a persistent and incorrigible transgressor; one condemned by the law of God.
- mutton n.
- A sheep. Chapman. [OE. motoun, OF. moton, molton, a sheep, wether, F. mouton, LL. multo, by transposition of l fr. L. mutilus mutilated. See Mutilate.]
- shocking a.
- Causing to shake or tremble, as by a blow; especially, causing to recoil with horror or disgust; extremely offensive or disgusting.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Autumn Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59276; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Katherine Mansfield, Autumn Song, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/autumn-song.html, id L27631.
Form and metre
Autumn Song is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCC nosesA · rosesA · facesB · placesB · growC · rowC
- 2 AABBCC sinnerA · dinnerA · tableB · ableB · muttonC · gluttonC
- 3 AABBCC racketA · jacketA · liningB · shiningB · togetherC · weatherC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now’s the time when children’s noses | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| All become as red as roses | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| And the colour of their faces | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Makes me think of orchard places | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Where the juicy apples grow | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And tomatoes in a row. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| And to-day the hardened sinner | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Never could be late for dinner, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| But will jump up to the table | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Just as soon as he is able, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Ask for three times hot roast mutton— | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Oh! the shocking little glutton. | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Come then, find your ball and racket, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Pop into your winter jacket, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| With the lovely bear-skin lining. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| While the sun is brightly shining, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Let us run and play together | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| And just love the autumn weather. | 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.