In Alice Cary's poem, ""Autumn," the speaker laments the end of summer and thinks about what the onset of autumn means. The author's depiction of death and dying, the replacement of beauty with colder and lesser things, and the conclusion that the most beautiful parts of spring can always be felt in some capacity reveals that although the passage of time is inevitable, the beauty of nature can be preserved in word and in memory.
In the beginning of Cary's poem, speaker's description of plants dying reflects their negative perception of the coming of autumn. Not only does summer leave with a moan and tries, deceptively, to stick around, the beautiful plants of summer are shown to become progressively less beautiful, eventually dying. Stanza 4 states that "the rose has taken off her tire of red/ the mullein-stalk its yellow stars have lost, and the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head." The use of imagery here shows us that the brilliance of spring, found in the colors, buds, and vivacity of the flowers produced, inevitably fades to images that are not as beautiful and not as lively.
The onset of autumn brings death and creates a void where the exuberance and beauty of spring once lived. The personification of the rose taking off her clothes, however, shows that, while the death is inevitable, it's also something that happens often and can be remedied by the new spring. The depiction of autumn in and of itself makes the speaker sad, but also brings with it new hope and something to look forward to.
In stanza 5, the speaker talks about the animals and how they are replaced by less beautiful and less endearing animals. The imagery of the robin, whose presence is seen as a kiss and a delight, has caught our attention (and hearts) all summer long with its beautiful, bright colors, is replaced by the imagery of a "brown cricket." The cricket is less exciting and less pleasant, reinforcing the idea that the coming of autumn means less beautiful and less joy. The tunes are …
#APLit folks:
My students and I doubted that I could cold-read, annotate, analyze, and write about a poem in 45 minutes. It’s not good, but I showed them how I’d move through FRQ1 and they appreciate that I can appreciate how hard it is.
(This took 37 minutes! And this test is stupid!) #EduSky