Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CHANSON D'AUTOMNE by PAUL VERLAINE

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: THE AUTUMN WIND WAILS THIN, / LIKE A SOBBING VIOLIN
Last Line: WHEN THE WINTER GUSTS BEGIN TO AND FRO
Subject(s): WIND; GRIEF; WINTER;
The Autumn wind wails thin,
Like a sobbing violin,
Long and low.
How it thrills my heart with pain,
This monotonous refrain,
Sad and slow!

Passion-pale I pant, "Alas!"
For the chiming hours that pass
To their sleep,
Till the visions throng my head
Of the good glad days long dead—
And I weep.

But the wind so wild and fleet
Overbears my willing feet,
And I go
As the withered leaves that spin—
When the winter gusts begin—
To and fro.



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