Autumn
Thro' changing Months a well-attemper'd MindWelcomes their gentle or terrific pace.--When o'er retreating Autumn's golden graceTempestuous Winter spreads in every windNaked asperity, our musings findGrandeur increasing, as the Glooms effaceVariety and glow.--Each solemn traceExalts the thoughts, from sensual joys refin'd.Then blended in our rapt ideas riseThe vanish'd charms, that summer-suns reveal,With all of desolation, that now liesDreary before us;--teach the Soul to feelAwe in the Present, pleasure in the Past,And to see vernal Morns in Hope's perspective cast.
Words in this poem
- asperity n.
- Roughness of surface; unevenness; -- opposed to smoothness. [L. asperitas, fr. asper rough: cf. F. aspérité.]
- rapt n.
- An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- perspective a.
- Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical. [L. perspicere, perspectum, to look through; per + spicere, specere, to look: cf. F. perspectif; or from E. perspective, n. See Spy, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Autumn is in the public domain. This text is taken from Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace, Project Gutenberg ebook #27663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anna Seward, Autumn, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/autumn.html, id L09789.
Form and metre
Autumn is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 64% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG mindA · paceB · graceA · windB · findC · effaceD · traceC · refin'dD · riseE · revealF · liesE · feelF · pastG · castG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thro' changing Months a well-attemper'd Mind | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Welcomes their gentle or terrific pace.-- | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| When o'er retreating Autumn's golden grace | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Tempestuous Winter spreads in every wind | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Naked asperity, our musings find | 10 | /˘˘/˘˘//˘· |
| Grandeur increasing, as the Glooms efface | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Variety and glow.--Each solemn trace | 10 | ˘/˘˘···/˘· |
| Exalts the thoughts, from sensual joys refin'd. | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| Then blended in our rapt ideas rise | 10 | ·/˘·/·˘/˘· |
| The vanish'd charms, that summer-suns reveal, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| With all of desolation, that now lies | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Dreary before us;--teach the Soul to feel | 10 | /˘········ |
| Awe in the Present, pleasure in the Past, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And to see vernal Morns in Hope's perspective cast. | 12 | ···/˘···˘/˘· |
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.