Thou Comest, Autumn, Heralded by the Rain
The speaker addresses Autumn as a royal figure arriving with rain, wind-blown banners, and oxen drawing a wagon. Autumn blesses the farms beneath a red harvest moon, while sheaves shine like altar flames and the attendant wind scatters golden leaves.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Nature Poetry · 163 words
First lines
Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain, / With banners, by great gales incessant fanned, / Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand, / And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain! / Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne, / Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand / Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land, / Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain! / Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended / So long beneath the heaven's o'er-hanging eaves; / Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended; / Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves; / And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid, / Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines develop a sustained address to Autumn, with an eight-line opening followed by six lines describing its harvest procession.
- Nature Poetry — Rain, gales, the harvest moon, sheaves, and falling leaves supply the details of Autumn's imagined royal arrival.
Tags
autumn · harvest · rain · wind · falling leaves · personification · sonnet
What this Textopian page supports
Thou Comest, Autumn, Heralded by the Rain is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Sonnet, Nature Poetry
- Length: 163 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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