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Poem review of 'October Dawn'

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Questions on October Dawn 1: By saying 'October is marigold ' the poet is meaning that as October arrives so does the autumn and the leaves of a marigold plant are yellow or orange, like the dead leaves on the trees. The name of the marigold plant is made up of the name 'Mary ' and 'gold '. This could be referring to the fact that Christmas is drawing near too, and 'Mary ' was, of course, Jesus ' mother and 'gold ' symbolises something good or rich. So this description could be referring to the fact that we should be thinking about how great Mary was as Christmas comes close. I think that this is a very good description because it makes an instant impact; it sends lots of different images through your head which immediately gets …show more content…

If he had used a definite article it would have altered the number of syllables and it would have meant the author would have been referring to a specific image in his mind that we can 't touch. 6: Winter is about to start. 7: The poet is describing the process of winter; the common conception of winter is snow, ice and general coldness. These things are all true but they don 't come in that order. First the weather becomes colder and as the weather gets colder then ice forms by freezing water. Then the nights become longer and there is less light in the days. In the mornings it is darker and it gets darker earlier in the night. 8: Alliteration; there are not any really obvious alliterations but the most prominent is 'Soon plate and rivet upon pond and brook ' in the 7th stanza. This is at the time in the poem where the poet is enforcing that the ice is taking over and the 'p ' and 'b ' sounds are powerful, aggressive sounds. Metaphor; one of the best metaphors the poet uses is 'fist of cold ' in the 9th stanza, this is in the section where the poet is enforcing the harshness and brutality of the ice again and the idea of the ice being in a fist and squeezing the life out of the land and rivers is a very effective one. Personification; The poet uses personification in the 'fist of cold ' metaphor

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