 September
by Helen Hunt Jackson
The goldenrod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.
The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusky pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.
The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow-nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.
From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.
By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.
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NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography
Helen Hunt Jackson (1831-1885) was an American
poet and
novelist. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, where
her father
was a professor in Amherst College, but she spent much
of her life in
California. She married a banker in Colorado Springs,
Colorado,
where she lived for a few years. Her poems are very
beautiful, and
"September" and "October's Bright Blue Weather" are
especially good
pictures of these autumn months.
Discussion
- What comparison is made in the first stanza between
June and October?
- Why is the bumblebee described
as "loud"?
- Compare the description
of the goldenrod in this poem with the
description of the goldenrod in "September."
- Compare the
description of the apples in this poem with the description
of the
apples in "September."
- Find the line
that tells why the "gentians
roll their fringes tight."
- What is the color
of the woodbine
leaves?
- What are the "wayside things" usually
called?
- What do
good comrades like to do in October?
- Why are we
sorry to have
October go?
- Find in the meaning
of: fragrant;
twining; aftermath; haunts.
- Pronounce: rival;
vagrant; freighting.
Phrases for Study:
rival for one hour, hush of woods, belated,
thriftless vagrant, count like misers, satin burs, count
all your
boasts, idle, golden freighting. |
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