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.
‘Tis a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget.
Poems (1892) | Helen Hunt Jackson (1830–1885)
Suggestions
Ask your students to do one or more of the following:
- Read the poem aloud.
- Copy the poem on Drawing and Writing paper.
- Determine the rhyme scheme of the poem. (abcb)
- Make a list of the ten objects the poet describes to illustrate September (from the first four stanzas).
- Choose one of these to illustrate your copy of the poem.
- Learn more about one or more of the following:
Goldenrod.
Corn.
Apples.
Gentian.
Milkweed.
Sedges.
Asters.
Grapes.
Yellow butterflies. - Write a descriptive paragraph describing what to you makes September fair.
- Create an author page.
Additional Resources
Three Years With the Poets
Easy to use in a home education setting — all laid out for you and ready to go! Includes this poem and other selected poems for the month of September.
14 Forms of Writing for the Older Student: Poetry
Ideas for doing more with the poem.
