Author: Madison Julius Cawein

---

I

    The shivering wind sits in the oaks, whose limbs,
    Twisted and tortured, nevermore are still;
    Grief and decay sit with it; they, whose chill
    Autumnal touch makes hectic-red the rims
    Of all the oak leaves; desolating, dims
    The ageratum's blue that banks the rill;
    And splits the milkweed's pod upon the hill,
    And shakes it free of the last seed that swims.
    Down goes the day despondent to its close:
    And now the sunset's hands of copper build
    A tower of brass, behind whose burning bars
    The day, in fierce, barbarian repose,
    Like some imprisoned Inca sits, hate-filled,
    Crowned with the gold corymbus of the stars.

II

    There is a booming in the forest boughs;
    Tremendous feet seem trampling through the trees:
    The storm is at his wildman revelries,
    And earth and heaven echo his carouse.
    Night reels with tumult; and, from out her house
    Of cloud, the moon looks, - like a face one sees
    In nightmare, - hurrying, with pale eyes that freeze
    Stooping above with white, malignant brows.
    The isolated oak upon the hill,
    That seemed, at sunset, in terrific lands
    A Titan head black in a sea of blood,
    Now seems a monster harp, whose wild strings thrill
    To the vast fingering of innumerable hands - 
    Spirits of tempest and of solitude.

---

Type of Poem: Sonnet

Date Written:

Date Published:

Language: English

Keywords: Public Domain

Source: Public Domain Collection

Publisher:

Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Comments/Notes: This evocative poem offers a vivid portrayal of nature’s raw power and the passage of time. The two-stanza structure allows for a clear shift in tone and theme, from the melancholy decay of autumn in the first to the violent tumult of a storm in the second.

In the first stanza, the author uses personification and alliteration to breathe life into the landscape, presenting the wind, grief, and decay as characters that interact with the oaks. The imagery of leaves turning "hectic-red" and the day sinking "despondent to its close" paints a picture of autumn not as a season of harvest, but of loss and decline. The striking metaphor of the day as an "imprisoned Inca" suggests a once-powerful entity reduced to impotence, reflecting on themes of mortality and the inevitable march of time.

Contrastingly, the second stanza introduces a sense of unruly chaos and fear into the serene, if somber, autumnal scene. The storm, portrayed as a "wildman" at his "revelries", brings an element of violence and unpredictability. The moon, usually a symbol of calm and tranquility, is depicted as a nightmarish figure with "white, malignant brows", invoking feelings of unease and terror. The oak tree, previously a symbol of melancholic decay, becomes a "monster harp" played by the storm, an instrument of nature's raw power. This shift in imagery underscores the poem's exploration of nature's dual capacity for beauty and destruction.