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Besides the autumn poets sing, A few prosaic days A little this side of the snow And that side of the haze.
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“Besides the autumn poets sing, A few prosaic days A little this side of the snow And that side of the haze.”

Emily Dickinson

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Source
November — Emily Dickinson
Date
1891
Meaning

Meaning of “Besides the autumn poets sing, A few prosaic…”

Dickinson notices the less celebrated interval between autumn color and winter snow, finding a distinct natural season in days that conventional poetry might overlook.

Source context

Where does it come from?

“November,” in Poems: Second Series (1891), Project Gutenberg #12242. The passage is tied to the early edited collection and its editorial title.

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ArtBeautifulChange and GrowthGrowthMindfulnessNaturePresent MomentTimeWritingPoetry
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The morns are meeker than they were, The nuts are getting brown; The berry's cheek is plumper, The rose is out of town.
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“The morns are meeker than they were, The nuts are getting brown; The berry's cheek is plumper, The rose is out of town.”

Emily Dickinson · Autumn — Emily Dickinson · 1890
Meaning & context

Small changes in morning, nuts, berries and roses make the season legible through close observation rather than through an abstract announcement that autumn has arrived.

Source details

“Autumn,” Poems: First Series (1890), Project Gutenberg #12242. The title and punctuation follow the represented early printed edition rather than a modern manuscript-based Dickinson edition.

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Think not of them, thou hast thy music too
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“Think not of them, thou hast thy music too”

John Keats · To Autumn · 1820
Meaning & context

Instead of measuring autumn only against spring, the poem redirects attention to the distinct music of the season that is actually present.

Source details

“To Autumn,” final stanza, in Keats: Poems Published in 1820; Project Gutenberg #23684. The line follows the question “Where are the songs of Spring?” and answers by valuing autumn’s own sounds.

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A light exists in spring Not present on the year At any other period.
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“A light exists in spring Not present on the year At any other period.”

Emily Dickinson · A Light Exists in Spring — Emily Dickinson · 1896
Meaning & context

Dickinson isolates a quality of spring light that feels distinct from ordinary seasonal brightness, making perception itself part of the encounter with nature.

Source details

“A Light Exists in Spring,” in Poems: Third Series (1896), represented through Project Gutenberg #12242. The Gutenberg text reproduces an early edited Dickinson edition, so punctuation and the editorial title are edition-specific rather than claimed as manuscript-final.

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Waking but now, when leaves like corpses fall, And saps all retrocede.
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“Waking but now, when leaves like corpses fall, And saps all retrocede.”

Thomas Hardy · The Last Chrysanthemum — Thomas Hardy · 1901
Meaning & context

The late-blooming flower appears precisely as the rest of the season retreats, combining natural decline with an image of delayed emergence rather than simple renewal.

Source details

“The Last Chrysanthemum,” Project Gutenberg #3168. The corpse comparison is figurative seasonal language inside the poem.

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Now is the time of plaintive robin-song, When flowers are in their tombs.
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“Now is the time of plaintive robin-song, When flowers are in their tombs.”

Thomas Hardy · The Last Chrysanthemum — Thomas Hardy · 1901
Meaning & context

Seasonal decline is compressed into robin-song and buried flowers, giving late autumn an explicitly elegiac atmosphere before the poem turns to the surviving chrysanthemum.

Source details

“The Last Chrysanthemum,” Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), Project Gutenberg #3168. Floral death is poetic seasonal imagery, not literal human bereavement.

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Thus meet we five, in this still place, At this point of time, at this point in space.
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“Thus meet we five, in this still place, At this point of time, at this point in space.”

Thomas Hardy · An August Midnight — Thomas Hardy · 1901
Meaning & context

The speaker's quiet encounter with small nocturnal creatures is fixed to one precise moment and place, making attention itself the poem's central event.

Source details

“An August Midnight,” Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), Project Gutenberg #3168. The five include the speaker and small creatures gathered around his writing table.

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