A Remembrance of Autumn
Nothing stirs the sunny silence,--Save the drowsy humming of the beesRound the rich, ripe peaches on the wall,And the south wind sighing in the trees,And the dead leaves rustling as they fall:While the swallows, one by one, are gathering,All impatient to be on the wing,And to wander from us, seekingTheir beloved Spring!
Cloudless rise the azure heavens!Only vaporous wreaths of snowy whiteNestle in the grey hill's rugged side;And the golden woods are bathed in light,Dying, if they must, with kingly pride:While the swallows in the blue air wheeling,Circle now an eager fluttering band,Ready to depart and leave usFor a brighter land!
But a voice is sounding sadly,Telling of a glory that has been;Of a day that faded all too fast--See afar through the blue air serene,Where the swallows wing their way at last,And our hearts perchance, as sadly wandering,Vainly seeking for a long-lost day,While we watch the far-off swallows,Flee with them away!
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- nestle v. i.
- To make and occupy a nest; to nest. [AS. nestlian.]
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Remembrance of Autumn is in the public domain. This text is taken from Legends and Lyrics. Part 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #2304; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adelaide Anne Procter, A Remembrance of Autumn, in Legends and Lyrics: Second Series (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2304, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/procter-legends-lyrics/a-remembrance-of-autumn.html, id L21796.
Form and metre
A Remembrance of Autumn is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See 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 -ABABCCCC silence · beesA · wallB · treesA · fallB · gatheringC · wingC · seekingC · springC
- 2 -ABAB-C-C heavens · whiteA · sideB · lightA · prideB · wheeling · bandC · us · landC
- 3 --A-A-B-B sadly · been · fastA · serene · lastA · wandering · dayB · swallows · awayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing stirs the sunny silence,-- | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Save the drowsy humming of the bees | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Round the rich, ripe peaches on the wall, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And the south wind sighing in the trees, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And the dead leaves rustling as they fall: | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| While the swallows, one by one, are gathering, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| All impatient to be on the wing, | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
| And to wander from us, seeking | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Their beloved Spring! | 4 | ·˘/· |
| Cloudless rise the azure heavens! | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Only vaporous wreaths of snowy white | 10 | /˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| Nestle in the grey hill's rugged side; | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| And the golden woods are bathed in light, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Dying, if they must, with kingly pride: | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| While the swallows in the blue air wheeling, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| Circle now an eager fluttering band, | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘· |
| Ready to depart and leave us | 8 | /˘·˘/··· |
| For a brighter land! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| But a voice is sounding sadly, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Telling of a glory that has been; | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| Of a day that faded all too fast-- | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| See afar through the blue air serene, | 9 | ·˘/····˘/ |
| Where the swallows wing their way at last, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| And our hearts perchance, as sadly wandering, | 10 | ·/·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Vainly seeking for a long-lost day, | 9 | /˘/˘····· |
| While we watch the far-off swallows, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Flee with them away! | 5 | ···˘/ |
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.