PO2 - Lesson: Literary Argument

Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speaker's unenthusiastic opinion of the of the coming of autumn, which conveys Cary's idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.

Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speaker's warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumn's coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who "from her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud". Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to "slip" and "stray through stubble fields". Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer, conveying the speaker's reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored. Summer, "she lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hour", is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves. The juxtaposition between Summer's character and the setting provides insight to the positivity of change--the yellow leaves--by its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices,"old tunes". "She lies on pillows" creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain "old tunes" According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.

Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Cary's idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. "Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowd", syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilight's  "clip"  and the subject, "the days", are cut off from each-other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramaticizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications of the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fall--emphasizing the Speaker's perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience. She says "the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earth's chilly bosom, witched with frost". Implying pride and defeat, and the word "witched", the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speaker's perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.

The topic of this poem, Fall--a season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscape--is juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and  blossoming change, but resents that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker's perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.

In Alice Cary's poem "Autumn," Cary uses precise diction to create contrasting imagery and the shift of the poem to show her simultaneous dislike and appreciation of Winter, and her appreciation of the warmer seasons.

Throughout the poem, word choice creates the difference between the seasons. In stanza one, "twilight," "sunset," and "golden" depict the visuals of summer; this is continued in stanza two with words like "warmer." The transition from Summer to Fall comes in one phrase: "yellow leaves" (line seven) which depicts imagery of leaves changing color as they do in Fall, but the switch is foreshadowed in the phrase "warmer air deceives". The words used to describe Summer and Fall all have a positive connotation: "Golden" suggests a regal nature to Summer, "sunset" is often associated with beauty, and "yellow" is a warm color, and is often associated with joy or kindness.

After the shift of the poem in stanza four, the imagery made by word choice changes to something of dislike toward Winter. Words with negative connotations like "red," "lost," and "frost" coupled with the contrast within line fifteen between "proud" and "hangs down her head" creates a tonal contrast with earlier depiction of Summer and Fall with Winter being more negative. Lines eighteen through twenty depict the loss of the robin's song, which is described as "golden" (positive connotation), to the the "brown cricket;" in contrast with gold, brown is associated with dirt and uncleanliness which suggests that Cary isn't happy that the robin's song was lost because of winter.

In the final stanza of the poem, Cry implies that even though Winter creates a "withered world," she still appreciates it because it precedes Spring, hence the final line of the poem. Ultimately, Cary's diction and the contrast it creates between the seasons illustrates her complex attitude toward the warm and cold times of a year.

In "Autumn," Cary employs repetition and imagery in order to convey the speaker's complex response to the changing seasons, ultimately demonstrating the distinct details that make each season their own.

Many sentences of this poem begin with the word "And." "And Summer from her golden collar slips...," "And, stealing hopeful to some sheltered bower..." The repetition of the word "And" is used to describe each season. Since each season consists of something different, repetition as well as imagery are incorporated to describe the difference between them. "The rose has taken off her tire of red- The mullein-stalk it's yellow stars have lost..." This quote utilizes imagery in order to demonstrate a season change from spring to winter. You are able to grasp this season change from the imagery of the roses dying and the stars gone. Since winter takes flowers away and creates a dim sky, the new season change would be winter.

In closing, all of the seasons have their differences and the complexity of seasons changing is well demonstrated throughout this poem through repetition and imagery.