By an Autumn Fire
Now at our casement the wind is shrilling,Poignant and keenAnd all the great boughs of the pines betweenIt is harping a lone and hungering strainTo the eldritch weeping of the rain;And then to the wild, wet valley flyingIt is seeking, sighing,Something lost in the summer olden.When night was silver and day was golden;But out on the shore the waves are moaningWith ancient and never fulfilled desire,And the spirits of all the empty spaces,Of all the dark and haunted places,With the rain and the wind on their death-white faces,Come to the lure of our leaping fire.
But we bar them out with this rose-red splendorFrom our blithe domain,And drown the whimper of wind and rainWith undaunted laughter, echoing long,Cheery old tale and gay old song;Ours is the joyance of ripe fruition,Attained ambition.Ours is the treasure of tested loving,Friendship that needs no further proving;No more of springtime hopes, sweet and uncertain,Here we have largess of summer in fee—Pile high the logs till the flame be leaping,At bay the chill of the autumn keeping,While pilgrim-wise, we may go a-reapingIn the fairest meadow of memory!
Words in this poem 15
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- poignant a.
- Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent. [F., p. pr. of poindre to sting, fr. L. pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]
- harping a.
- Pertaining to the harp; as, harping symphonies.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- eldritch a.
- Hideous; ghastly; as, an eldritch shriek or laugh. [Local, Eng.]
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- whimper v. i.
- To cry with a low, whining, broken voice; to whine; to complain; as, a child whimpers. [Cf. Scot. whimmer, G. wimmern.]
- undaunted a.
- Not daunted; not subdued or depressed by fear.
- joyance n.
- Enjoyment; gayety; festivity; joyfulness. [OF. joiance.]
- fruition n.
- Use or possession of anything, especially such as is accompanied with pleasure or satisfaction; pleasure derived from possession or use. [OF. fruition, L. fruitio, enjoyment, fr. L. frui, p. p. fruitus, to use or enjoy. See Fruit, n.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- largess n.
- Liberality; generosity; bounty. [F. largesse, fr. large. See Large, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
By an Autumn Fire is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, By an Autumn Fire, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/by-an-autumn-fire.html, id L29451.
Form and metre
By an Autumn Fire is 30 lines in 2 stanzas of 15 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 -AABBCCDD-EFFFE shrilling · keenA · betweenA · strainB · rainB · flyingC · sighingC · oldenD · goldenD · moaning · desireE · spacesF · placesF · facesF · fireE
- 2 -AABBCCBB--DDD- splendor · domainA · rainA · longB · songB · fruitionC · ambitionC · lovingB · provingB · uncertain · fee · leapingD · keepingD · reapingD · memory
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now at our casement the wind is shrilling, | 10 | ··//˘···/˘ |
| Poignant and keen | 4 | /˘·· |
| And all the great boughs of the pines between | 10 | ·········· |
| It is harping a lone and hungering strain | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| To the eldritch weeping of the rain; | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| And then to the wild, wet valley flying | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| It is seeking, sighing, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Something lost in the summer olden. | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| When night was silver and day was golden; | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| But out on the shore the waves are moaning | 10 | ········/˘ |
| With ancient and never fulfilled desire, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘/ |
| And the spirits of all the empty spaces, | 11 | ··/˘···/˘/˘ |
| Of all the dark and haunted places, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| With the rain and the wind on their death-white faces, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Come to the lure of our leaping fire. | 9 | ·····//˘/ |
| But we bar them out with this rose-red splendor | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| From our blithe domain, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And drown the whimper of wind and rain | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| With undaunted laughter, echoing long, | 9 | ·˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Cheery old tale and gay old song; | 8 | /˘······ |
| Ours is the joyance of ripe fruition, | 10 | /··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Attained ambition. | 5 | ˘/˘/˘ |
| Ours is the treasure of tested loving, | 10 | /··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Friendship that needs no further proving; | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| No more of springtime hopes, sweet and uncertain, | 11 | ···/····˘/˘ |
| Here we have largess of summer in fee— | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Pile high the logs till the flame be leaping, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| At bay the chill of the autumn keeping, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| While pilgrim-wise, we may go a-reaping | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| In the fairest meadow of memory! | 9 | ··/˘/··/˘ |
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.