6 Poems That Perfectly Sum Up The Beauty Of Fall

Fall is fast approaching, and in case the anticipation of crisp air, sweaters, and pumpkin-flavored everything isn't enough to get you amped up for the best time of the year, a few fall poems should do the trick. Perhaps a poem isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think about something to get you excited and eager for the fall season. After all, poetry definitely is not as common of an art form in today's world — and it is pretty darn tough to compete with the deliciousness of pumpkin spice. But, poetry is alive and well, and you might be surprised at how powerful the written word can actually be. It can produce thoughts of crunchy leaves and cool air. It can immediately inspire longing for a warm sweater, and a cozy turkey dinner. So, maybe poetry is a little more forgotten today. But, that doesn't mean it's any less effective.

Still not a believer in the magic of poetry? Well, here are six excerpts from poems — both young and old — that are sure to get you pumped and ready for the fall season. Grab your boots and scarves, people. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

1. "October" — Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,Should waste them all.The crows above the forest call;Tomorrow they may form and go.O hushed October morning mild,Begin the hours of this day slow.Make the day seem to us less brief.Hearts not averse to being beguiled,Beguile us in the way you know.Release one leaf at break of day;At noon release another leaf;One from our trees, one far away.

2. "The Autumn" — Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Go, sit upon the lofty hill,And turn your eyes around,Where waving woods and waters wildDo hymn an autumn sound.The summer sun is faint on them —The summer flowers depart —Sit still — as all transform’d to stone,Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,May yet be in your mind;And how you heard the green woods singBeneath the freshening wind.Though the same wind now blows around,You would its blast recall;For every breath that stirs the trees,Doth cause a leaf to fall.

3. "Autumn" — Mary Hamrick

Autumn is like an old book:Marred spines turn mean yellow,staples rust red-orange.

Every stained page is stressedby a splat of color. Rough-red,like an old tavern,we become hungry birdsand prepare for fall.Shape and shadow are candied citronas lanterns turn bitter yellow. Autumnis a red fox, a goblet filled with dark wine,a hot chilli pepper with smoky eyes.

4. "To Autumn" — William Blake

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’dWith the blood of the grape, pass not, but sitBeneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,And all the daughters of the year shall dance!Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

5. "Strange Violet Behind Trees" — Christine Klocek-Lim

The house hides in dusk’s spangled purples.It’s hard to see such colors, capricioustones barely there once night has almostsucked the light from the forest.And silhouetted trees rear upas I walk, interrupt the horizon,

their dry leaves muttering imprecationsin the magenta gleam of twilight.

6. "Sonnet 73" — William Shakespeare

That time of year thou mayst in me behold,When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the cold,Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.In me thou seest the twilight of such dayAs after sunset fadeth in the west,Which by and by black night doth take away,Death's second self that seals up all in rest.

Images: Lauren Rushing, mendhak, Arild Storaas, motoshi ohmori, Pacheco, Jon Pinder, Mark K./Flickr