As autumn approaches, the leaves change color, Starbucks starts rolling out whatever pumpkin-flavored concoction they’ve dreamed up and you curl up in an armchair by the window. Right now, it’s just cold enough outdoors and just toasty warm enough indoors to read. Just in time for the upcoming season, here’s some poetry and prose that are perfect for autumn.
Poems
“After Apple-Picking” by Robert Frost
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Robert Frost loved writing poetry about nature and he’s a classic, so I couldn’t resist the temptation to put him first on the list. “After Apple-Picking” is a good poem for autumn, and even though the speaker is done with apple-picking, it makes you want to go do it yourself.
Read it here.
“During the Impossible Age of Everyone” by Ada Limon
Look out at the meadow, you can almost see them,
generations dissolved in the bluegrass and hay.
I want to try and be terrific. Even for an hour.
Part of her fantastic 2016 collection Bright Dead Things, Ada Limon always needs more recognition. Uplifting and nostalgic, with autumn-esque countryside imagery, I really love the good, faintly bittersweet vibes in this poem.
Read it here.
“Pumpkin Eater” by Sandra Cisneros
I keep inside a pumpkin shell.
There I do very well.
Yes, I chose this poem because it mentions pumpkins. But I also think Sandra Cisneros, who is most famous for The House on Mango Street, is a poet who should be better known. “Pumpkin Eater” is also narrated by a (likely female) speaker who’s insisting she’s not possessive or crazy, not the kind of girl who would trouble you, so it seems appropriate to mention on Her Campus.
Read it here.
Prose
“The Last Leaf” by O. Henry
During a freezing autumn season, a woman stricken with pneumonia is convinced she’ll die once the last leaf outside her window falls, but it never does. Like O. Henry’s more famous “Gift of the Magi,” it has a heartwarming twist ending, but I won’t spoil it for you.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
Poe’s short stories are well known for their horror, and therefore perfect for Halloween! “The Fall of the House of Usher” is wonderfully creepy, although it’s not the narrator who commits some heinous act (for once).
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
With autumn always comes nostalgia, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane is about a magical childhood memory that you thought you’d forgotten. You can’t go wrong with Neil Gaiman, either, although you should know that this one is targeted more towards a younger audience.
I hope you enjoy these recommendations and find a cozy corner nearby, sit down and start reading!
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