An Autumn Day: Stanza 4

An Autumn Day: Stanza 4

“An Autumn Day”: Stanza 4

Overview

• In this stanza, the speaker laments the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of ageing, drawing parallels to the changing seasons.

Analysis

Form and Structure

• Much like the earlier stanzas, the fourth stanza also utilises an ABAB rhyme scheme, giving the poem consistency and rhythm.
• The use of caesura in the second line, marked by the comma after “autumn”, adds emotional weight, enhancing the sense of melancholy.

Language and Imagery

• The vivid imagery of “a thistle head without seeds” symbolises the inevitable deterioration and loss accompanying ageing. The lack of seeds indicates the absence of potential for renewal, subtly representing the decline of vitality in old age.
• The usage of the phrase “the shape of man’s autumn” alludes to the correlation between the human lifecycle and the cycle of seasons, with autumn symbolising the twilight of life. It outlines the progression towards the inevitable: winter, or death.

Tone

• The tone evolves into one of melancholic introspection, marked by a profound acceptance of the transience and inevitability of life’s stages.
• The phrases “swiftly over the waters” and “the thistle on the hill” carry a contemplative, somber mood, reflecting the narrator’s grief and acceptance of mortality.

Context

• Sorley MacLean’s connection to the Scottish landscapes inspires a substantial part of his poetry. The thistle, a national symbol of Scotland, strengthens this bond.
• This stanza infers humanity’s connection to nature, underscoring the existential themes of life, ageing, and death. MacLean suggests that just as nature cycles through seasons, humans too pass through stages of life.