Daily Journal #20

From the very opening of the poem “Autumn” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, it is obvious that it is a definite writing of the Romanticism time period. The “romantics” are known to write a lot about nature and be very descriptive in doing so. Seeing how this is a whole poem describing in a very poetic way.

The opening sentence, “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!” (Longfellow: Lines 1-4). The way that he talks about autumn makes it seem like autumn is a tangible thing; more of a human being or some kind of spirit rather than just a season.

Longfellow goes on to praise Autumn of how it answers the prayers of the farmers; “Thy steps are by the farmer’s prayers attended” (Longfellow: Line 11). This is also a characteristic of the Romanticism time period because they tended to show the “good” side of nature, the side that nourishes and protects the people and animals of the earth.

Longfellow also compares the sheaves of grain that the farmers have harvested to “flames upon the altar!” (Longfellow: Line 12). This shows how the authors, at least Henry Longfellow, in the Romanticism time period liked to raise up the virtues of hard work that the farmers of America show. The frequent use of the exclamation points shows that the author is very emotional about the subject. This excitedness about nature is a very token characteristic of the romanticism period.

The imagery that Longfellow uses in further personifying autumn in lines five through nine give the reader that Longfellow felt that he had a very close relationship with nature, and how he saw nature during autumn: “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.”

Also, the fact that the speaker of the poem is talking directly to nature makes the reader feel closer to nature because they are able to talk to it, not just talk about it.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. The Complete Poetical Works, ed. by Horace E. Scudder. Boston and New 

York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1893; Bartleby.com, 2011.