“October” Poem by Robert Frost – A Beautiful Autumn Classic

Every year, when October arrives, we enjoy reading this beautiful poem: “October” by Robert Frost. In it, he urges nature to slow down—before the leaves fall and the chilly weather begins!

“October” by Robert Frost

(from A Boy’s Will, 1913)

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow’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.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Did you know Robert Frost was also a farmer? In 1900, Frost and his wife, Elinor, moved to a 30-acre farm in Derry, New Hampshire, purchased for them by his grandfather. Frost raised poultry and kept a cow, which he reportedly trained to be milked at noon and midnight so he could write late and sleep later.

Frost lived on the farm until 1911, and many of the poems in his earliest collections were written or conceived during those productive Derry years. His poetry often draws upon the fields, forests, changing seasons, and rural life of New England.

At The Old Farmer’s Almanac, we have our own tradition of farmer-poets. Open a copy of The Old Farmer’s Almanac, and you’ll find the “Farmer’s Calendar” musings alongside each monthly calendar page.