September Midnight
By Sarah Teasdale
Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer,
Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,
Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,
Ceaseless, insistent.The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples,
The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence
Under a moon waning and worn, broken,
Tired with summer.Let me remember you, voices of little insects,
Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters,
Let me remember, soon will the winter be on us,
Snow-hushed and heavy.Over my soul murmur your mute benediction,
While I gaze, O fields that rest after harvest,
As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to,
Lest they forget them.
Summary of September Midnight
- Popularity of “September Midnight”: The poem “September Midnight” by Sara Teasdale, a Pulitzer-winning American poet, is a beautiful poem about an exotic Indian setting. It first appeared in March 1914, and yet it seems as fresh as a century back. The poem presents an Indian lyric night with its multiplicity of natural voices coming out from the fields and mesmerizing the poet. The beauty of the poem lies in these natural sounds and natural descriptions. However, its popularity lies in short phrases syncing nature with the poetic rendition.
- “September Midnight” As a Representative of Natural Beauty: The poet presents an Indian lyric night possibly held in late September that mesmerized the poet. She states that it is perhaps the last night of such a “lingering Indian summer.” However, it has rather mesmerized her in that birds are singing in the shadowy fields, and insects are engaged in insistent and ceaseless chant. Multiple other moths and natural things are chanting under the moonlit night. Even the moon seems to her tired of the summer. On this night, she rather feels estranged that soon winter would be upon everything, invading with its silence. Then silence will rule the roost. She is of the view that this is also a benediction of nature and calls the fields that, as they are now relaxing, would perhaps forget this summer night. Her implicit comparison highlights the blessings of summer, which are not considered a blessing due to unbearable Indian hot weather.
- Major Themes in “September Midnight”: The beauty of nature, the arrival of autumn, and the prevalence of silence over natural sounds are three major ideas the poet has discussed in this poem. The poet first presents the beauty of nature. She presents it through her sensual realization of the sounds and the weather of an Indian summer night when she happens to be there. She then recounts different insects chanting that night and syncing their songs with the waning of the moon. However, the poet expects that the arrival of winter will bring silence that will prevail over the natural sounds of the noise made by the insects. This arrival of winter, though dominant, seems to tease the poet to warn the fields that they would forget this beauty of summer with the arrival of the muting winter.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in September Midnight
Sarah Teasdale has used various literary devices to enhance the impact of her poem. Some of the major literary devices she has used are as follows.
- Apostrophe: It is a device that shows the call of the poet to some dead person or an abstract idea. The poet has used an apostrophe to call fields such as “O fields.”
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer” and the sound of /a/ in “The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /h/ in “The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples” and the sound of /w / in “Under a moon waning and worn, broken.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence
Under a moon waning and worn, broken,
Tired with summer.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects”, “The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples” and “Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters.”
- Personification: It means to show inanimate objects or things have human feelings and passions, such as the poet presented the moon as tiring due to weather. Therefore, the moon has been personified here.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols of natural things, such as insects, the moon, and insect chants, to present the beauty of the summer season.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in September Midnight
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: Diction means the type of language, and tone means the tone of the text. The poem shows the use of formal and poetic diction, but the tone is of excitement in the first two stanzas, which turns to nostalgic in the last stanza.
- Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here each stanza is quatrain.
- Free Verse: It is a poetic device that shows the use of verses having no rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. This poem has been written in free verse.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are four stanzas in this poem, with each comprising four verses.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote to show the wintery silence over the fields.
Over my soul murmur your mute benediction,
While I gaze, O fields that rest after harvest,
As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to,
Lest they forget them.
