Autumn Poetry Worth Celebrating

Autumn is here and the weather has definitely changed over the past few weeks. In August, we had a sweltering heatwave; now, the leaves have turned, and the light has taken on a different sort of glow.

Poetry In Particular

Poetry is especially good at portraying the change in the seasons. Maybe it is something about the brevity of a poem – it can capture something quite simply whilst being economical with words. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 123 starts off with ‘No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change…’,  Simon Armitage’s ‘Give’ is about how change comes about depending on choices we make, as in ‘Of all the doorways in the world/to choose to sleep, I’ve chosen yours.’ Perhaps more well-known is Robert Frost’s ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ with ‘So dawn goes down today/Nothing gold can stay’ – and here, the focus is on how nature changes quite distinctly at this time of year.

The Shifting Of The Seasons

Snuggling up in front of a fire as the daylight diminishes is a great way to relax – and tucking into some poems to enjoy is a lovely thing to do. Carl Sandburg writes how ‘new beautiful things/come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind’ – and as we know, the weather can bring great changes to our world, particularly in September when we often experience storms, or the fall-out of weather systems hundreds of miles away. Grayson Peterson sums up how I feel about the seasons when he says ‘Fall doesn’t stay long/A moment, and it’s gone’ – and perhaps this is how we feel about the different seasons.

Ultimately, the seasons come and go, and in the UK we are particularly fortunate to have marked changes, although with what is happening to our climate, this is perhaps not quite what it was in the past. As the nights draw in and we wake to mornings with frost on the car, poetry could be a great tool to help us through. After all, a poem is fantastic to dip into, and many poems don’t take long to read – but the effects can be long-lasting.

Make The Most Of Autumn On The Page

So, what are you waiting for? Grab a good book of poetry and hunker down on the sofa to see where the words can take you.