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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 69. AUTUMN IDLENESS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

Poet Analysis

First Line: THIS SUNLIGHT SHAMES NOVEMBER WHERE HE GRIEVES
Last Line: NOR KNOW, FOR LONGING, THAT WHICH I SHOULD DO.
Subject(s): AUTUMN; LEISURE; SEASONS; FALL;

THIS sunlight shames November where he grieves
In dead red leaves, and will not let him shun
The day, though bough with bough be over-run.
But with a blessing every glade receives
High salutation; while from hillock-eaves
The deer gaze calling, dappled white and dun,
As if, being foresters of old, the sun
Had marked them with the shade of forest-leaves.

Here dawn to-day unveiled her magic glass;
Here noon now gives the thirst and takes the dew;
Till eve bring rest when other good things pass.
And here the lost hours the lost hours renew
While I still lead my shadow o'er the grass,
Nor know, for longing, that which I should do.



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