Poetry is in the Trees – Frost & Dickinson on Autumn

Poetry is in the trees this time of year. They whisper and wink, with emerald eyes and golden hair, all aglow with love.  This couple welcomes the day and I see them on my morning commute.

Fall fence

Autumn lovers

 

Nothing Gold Can Stay  by Robert Frost

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

* There is such richness in this brief poem: the transience of beauty and the echo of the word leaf. Frost is philosopher, poet and storyteller, from the golden bud which becomes the maple leaf to the fall of Eden. Read more about these eight lines here.

Golden fall fence

Broken fence and fallen leaves

 

 

‘III. NATURE XXVIII. AUTUMN’ by Emily Dickinson

The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry’s cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,

The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old-fashioned,

I’ll put a trinket on.

“Compelled by the dazzling color palette of her native New England landscape, Emily Dickinson resolves to be fashionable by adding an ornament to her fall ensemble. Although one typically imagines Dickinson staying classy in basic black or all white, the poet wasn’t too chic to ignore seasonal cues when it came to updating her wardrobe. Did she opt for a lacquered hair comb? A bright shawl? Chunky cuff bracelet? Forget Pinterest—take a walk down your nearest tree-lined street for inspiration.” (More poems from mic.com)

Fall Fire

Morning glow in Connecticut

Don’t forget to Look
And Wonder
Revel

Oct 23, 2015

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About the Author

Mylinh Shattan is a writer who has lived on three continents, served in the Army, worked in corporate America, and taught in college. She loves adventures, in the world and in the mind. Literature is relevant and learning is a lifelong pursuit, so you might as well have a bit of fun along the way.

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