Autumn Idleness
This sunlight shames November where he grievesIn dead red leaves, and will not let him shunThe day, though bough with bough be over-run.But with a blessing every glade receivesHigh salutation; while from hillock-eavesThe deer gaze calling, dappled white and dun,As if, being foresters of old, the sunHad marked them with the shade of forest-leaves.
Here dawn to-day unveiled her magic glass;Here noon now gives the thirst and takes the dew;Till eve bring rest when other good things pass.And here the lost hours the lost hours renewWhile I still lead my shadow o'er the grass,Nor know, for longing, that which I should do.
Words in this poem
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- dappled a.
- Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Autumn Idleness is in the public domain. This text is taken from The House of Life, Project Gutenberg ebook #3692; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Autumn Idleness, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/autumn-idleness.html, id L20986.
Form and metre
Autumn Idleness is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABBAABBA grievesA · shunB · runB · receivesA · eavesA · dunB · sunB · leavesA
- 2 ABABAB glassA · dewB · passA · renewB · grassA · doB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| This sunlight shames November where he grieves | 10 | ·/··˘/˘··· |
| In dead red leaves, and will not let him shun | 10 | ·········· |
| The day, though bough with bough be over-run. | 10 | ·········· |
| But with a blessing every glade receives | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| High salutation; while from hillock-eaves | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The deer gaze calling, dappled white and dun, | 10 | ···/˘·˘··· |
| As if, being foresters of old, the sun | 10 | ··//˘˘···· |
| Had marked them with the shade of forest-leaves. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Here dawn to-day unveiled her magic glass; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Here noon now gives the thirst and takes the dew; | 10 | ·········· |
| Till eve bring rest when other good things pass. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And here the lost hours the lost hours renew | 10 | ····/··/˘/ |
| While I still lead my shadow o'er the grass, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Nor know, for longing, that which I should do. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.