“September” by Helen Hunt Jackson

September has always been one of my favourite months: the summer heat finally lets up, the natural world becomes incredibly rich in colour, and everything feels so majestic! There’s also a lovely and comforting sense of melancholy, announcing the gentle and serene nature of autumn.

In her poem titled “September” the American poet Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) reflects on all of these things, celebrating the sights of this gorgeous month that provides us with the best of two seasons. The poem was originally published in the same collection as another one of her works featured earlier on this blog; in that post you can read more about this wonderful poet.

After reading “September”, you can do the vocabulary exercises found below (answer key available).

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The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down. 

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun. 

The sedges flaunt their harvest,
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook. 

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies. 

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer. 

But none of all this beauty
Which floods the earth and air
Is unto me the secret
Which makes September fair. 

'T is a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget.

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VOCABULARY EXERCISES

1. The poet mentions a number of different plants and flowers. Look at the images below – if English is not your mother tongue, find out what they are called in your language:

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2. Match the following VERBS from the poem with the definitions found below:

• to cause a sudden feeling of excitement
• to make thread by twisting fibres
• to show something you are proud of in order to provoke admiration
• to form into a spiral shape
• to arrive in great quantity

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3. Match the following NOUNS found in the poem with the definitions:

ORCHARD  | FRINGE  | POD  | NOOK | BROOK  | LANE  | ODO[U]R  | TOKEN

• a small river
• a symbol   
• a small quiet place or corner
• a piece of land planted with fruit trees
• a smell
• a narrow country road
• outer edges of an area
• a long thin case filled with seeds (e.g. beans and peas)

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To check your answers, please click here.

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NOTES

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COVER IMAGE CREDIT

Skylar Zilka via Unsplash.