How the Leaves Came Down
“I’ll tell you how the leaves came down,”The great Tree to his children said:“You’re getting sleepy, Yellow and Brown,Yes, very sleepy, little Red.It is quite time to go to bed.”
“Ah!” begged each silly, pouting leaf,“Let us a little longer stay;Dear Father Tree, behold our grief!’Tis such a very pleasant day,We do not want to go away.”
So, for just one more merry dayTo the great Tree the leaflets clung,Frolicked and danced, and had their way,Upon the autumn breezes swung,Whispering all their sports among--
“Perhaps the great Tree will forget,And let us stay until the spring,If we all beg, and coax, and fret.”But the great Tree did no such thing;He smiled to hear their whispering.
“Come, children, all to bed,” he cried;And ere the leaves could urge their prayer,He shook his head, and far and wide,Fluttering and rustling everywhere,Down sped the leaflets through the air.
I saw them; on the ground they lay,Golden and red, a huddled swarm,Waiting till one from far away,White bedclothes heaped upon her arm,Should come to wrap them safe and warm.
The great bare Tree looked down and smiled.“Good-night, dear little leaves,” he said.And from below each sleepy childReplied, “Good-night,” and murmured,“It is so nice to go to bed!”
Words in this poem
- pouting n.
- Childish sullenness.
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- bedclothes n.
- Blankets, sheets, coverlets, etc., for a bed.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
How the Leaves Came Down is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, How the Leaves Came Down, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/how-the-leaves-came-down.html, id L25164.
Form and metre
How the Leaves Came Down is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABB downA · saidB · brownA · redB · bedB
- 2 ABABB leafA · stayB · griefA · dayB · awayB
- 3 ABABB dayA · clungB · wayA · swungB · amongB
- 4 ABABB forgetA · springB · fretA · thingB · whisperingB
- 5 ABABB criedA · prayerB · wideA · everywhereB · airB
- 6 ABABB layA · swarmB · awayA · armB · warmB
- 7 ABABB smiledA · saidB · childA · murmuredB · bedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “I’ll tell you how the leaves came down,” | 8 | ········ |
| The great Tree to his children said: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| “You’re getting sleepy, Yellow and Brown, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| Yes, very sleepy, little Red. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| It is quite time to go to bed.” | 8 | ········ |
| “Ah!” begged each silly, pouting leaf, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| “Let us a little longer stay; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Dear Father Tree, behold our grief! | 8 | ·/˘·˘//· |
| ’Tis such a very pleasant day, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| We do not want to go away.” | 8 | ······˘/ |
| So, for just one more merry day | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To the great Tree the leaflets clung, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Frolicked and danced, and had their way, | 8 | ········ |
| Upon the autumn breezes swung, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Whispering all their sports among-- | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| “Perhaps the great Tree will forget, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| And let us stay until the spring, | 8 | ········ |
| If we all beg, and coax, and fret.” | 8 | ········ |
| But the great Tree did no such thing; | 8 | ········ |
| He smiled to hear their whispering. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| “Come, children, all to bed,” he cried; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And ere the leaves could urge their prayer, | 8 | ········ |
| He shook his head, and far and wide, | 8 | ········ |
| Fluttering and rustling everywhere, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Down sped the leaflets through the air. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I saw them; on the ground they lay, | 8 | ········ |
| Golden and red, a huddled swarm, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Waiting till one from far away, | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| White bedclothes heaped upon her arm, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Should come to wrap them safe and warm. | 8 | ········ |
| The great bare Tree looked down and smiled. | 8 | ········ |
| “Good-night, dear little leaves,” he said. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And from below each sleepy child | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Replied, “Good-night,” and murmured, | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| “It is so nice to go to bed!” | 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.