Canadian Poetry Response

AUTUMN MAPLES

Lampman, Archibald (1861-1899)

The thoughts of all the maples who shall name,
When the sad landscape turns to cold and gray?
Yet some for very ruth and sheer dismay,
Hearing the northwind pipe the winter's name,
Have fired the hills with beaconing clouds of flame;
And some with softer woe that day by day,
So sweet and brief, should go the westward way,
Have yearned upon the sunset with such shame
That all their cheeks have turned to tremulous rose;
Others for wrath have turned to rusty red,
And some that knew not either grief or dread,
Ere the old year should find its iron close,
Have gathered down the sun's last smiles acold,
Deep, deep, into their luminous hearts of gold

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This beautiful Canadian poem by the famous Canadian poet Archibald Lampman is a true to life representation of Canadian Maple trees changing colour in autumn. Being an inhabitant of Ontario in the late 1800s, He drew from the surrounding landscape to inspire the majority of his works. This is evident in this poem, because of the description of the changing maples that are a huge part of the Ontario landscape and even in the Canadian landscape in general. I feel that this poem truly captures both the feeling of autumn in Canada, as well as the look of the scenery. The use of imagery in this poem is brilliant, such as when Lampman describes the hills as being fired with “beaconing clouds of flame”, and the beaconing clouds of flame being the autumn leaves on the maple trees. Overall, I think that this poem is a great representation of the beautiful Canadian landscape in the autumn months. This is why I chose this poem to respond to.