Autumn or Fall:
Which is more poetic?
These words tell me where you come from:
Where I’m from, we say ‘Autumn’
Which sounds nice but doesn’t mean anything
apart from a new season
whereas ‘Fall,’ now, there’s a loaded word:
Leaves fall
We stand or fall by our words, catch cold (or worse) and then
Atishoo! Atishoo!
We all fall down…
Fall or Autumn?
I do not know which word is the more poetic:
Autumn or Fall?
I know which is the more prophetic term.
Posted for Earthweal’s Open Link Weekend #39. I’ve read a lot of Autumn and Fall themed poems recently (the season does lend itself to poetry, just ask Keats) which got me thinking about the words we use, and what they might tell us about ourselves, and our world. Then of course we have the run-up to the US election, whose fate might decide how quickly we, as a human race, race to our own destruction. And a President who must now stand by his decision not to wear a mask. We stand or fall by the choices we make. But I know I’m preaching to the converted. I doubt many of Trump’s supporters read much poetry.
I’ll leave you with a little Bob Dylan, particular emphasis on the final two verses:
As an Australian, it’s always Autumn, but I love the leaves that fall in Autumn!
I didn’t know you say Autumn in Australia just like in the UK 🍁
Well Australia was settled by the British, all those years ago. And we stuck with that up until around the 1970s.
Haha that’s true! But so was the US so I don’t know where the word ‘fall’ comes from – it’s interesting!
Words, so many interesting things, finding out about them, and using them well of course.
Oh Ingrid! This song goes right into my tummy! I remember it from years ago. Me and my husband were young then. He has all thealbums of Bob Dylan. This song always got into my tummy, and in our world’s present stae, I feel that some of the songs of that era should come out again. I could go through that song line by line, and say exactly what it means to me. What my tummy tells me.
The word “Fall” is not one we use here either. It is “Autumn,” which as you say is far less descriptive, and, for me, has more of a feel good factor. And yes, I do personally feel that at the moment our wirld is falling. Will there then be a rising?
I’m pleased you enjoyed the music: it’s such a powerful song. The bit about ‘fear to bring children/into the world’ always gets me. We should not have to fear for our childrens’ futures.
Oh Ingrid, that gets to me too. Are you in Slovenia now? I was just reading one of your past posts. Did you find somewhere to live?
Yes, we are in the Slovenian Alps, we did find somewhere to live, thank you! It’s a very beautiful place.
Oh Ingrid! I am jealous 😊. How wonderful. Yay!
Ahh… the bigger they are, the harder they ‘fall’
In the Southwestern part of the US, fall is heard more often than autumn, but since it still feels like blazing summer, neither of those terms matter until the weather actually cools. 😆
It was the same in Spain: this is my first real autumn for 4 years!
I get to experience one soon, with my daughter, if the fires haven’t destroyed all of the beautiful trees. 😭
🙁 I hope not!
Very clever and engaging poem, Ingrid. I would use either, depending on the number of syllables or the rhyme pattern! Have a great day! Cheryl 🙂
You pose an interesting question Ingrid. Whdn I am writing I use both Autumn and Fall — depending on the mood of the piece. In conversion with family and friends I say Fall — doesn’t take as long to pronounce… 😉
PS – love me some Dylan, thankx !
Nothing much falls here in Florida except old people and sense. – B
I love this comment in the form of an aphorism!
The clocks fall back in fall and spring forward for summer. Helpful to name the season as a reminder.
True!
Such a fun poem Ingrid and good food for thought. Fall does give us some food for thought while Autumn is a lovely word. Dylan was a choice pick and would have to agree to your well thought out words of “We stand or fall by the choices we make. But I know I’m preaching to the converted”. And this made me laugh out loud… 🤣 I doubt many of Trump’s supporters read much poetry. ❤️ Cindy
Fall here on the West Coast. I love your poem, and enjoyed your musings after.
It’s fall on the west coast of Canada. I enjoyed your poem, and the musings after.
I’m so sorry, Sherry – this ended up in my spam for some reason. Thank you for reading – I’m pleased you enjoyed the poem ☺️
I enjoyed this pondering on words, Ingrid, and could have approached it as a linguist, but I am far too subjective when it comes to my favourite season. For me, ‘fall’ is too short a word and close to the word ‘fail’. It also reminds me of gravity. Whereas ‘autumn’ is fuller, like a ripe plum in the mouth, and it starts with the letter ‘a’, like apple. It’s also beautiful, more romantic, coming from the French word ‘automne’ and the Latin ‘autumnus’ (reminds me of Mr Tumnus from The Lion, the With and the Wardrobe’ (oops, there’s the linguist!). Apparently, Harvest was the English name for the season until autumn began to displace it in the sixteenth century.
Thank you, Kim – I love finding out about the origin of words. I did look up the etymology of Autumn and found out about the French and Latin but I didn’t know it came into popular use in the sixteenth century. What I would be really interested to know is when ‘Fall’ became popular in North America
Apparently it went over with the settlers.
So it was already in use in some parts of the UK or elsewhere at that time? That’s interesting because I note in the comments that even in the US not everyone uses ‘Fall.’ Looks like it’s ‘fallen’ out of use (sorry!) in the UK completely now.
Here on the west coast of Canada, it is fall……..a glorious season. I enjoyed your poem – and the musings that follow. Yes, consequences, being felt on a personal as well as global scale. And still people are in denial.
I agree that the ‘Fall’ describes so much more of the ‘event’ of the season! The season is Autumn for sure! But then again, we don’t have a tradition of Baseball either! The cousins are always more diverse than the siblings!