184 Twelve Months With 



The negative qualities of the month are humor- 

 ously depicted by Thomas Hood in the following 

 lines : 



"No sun no moon! 



No morn no noon! 



No dawn no dusk no proper time of day 

 No sky no earthly view 

 No distance looking blue 



No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, 



No comfortable feel in any member 

 No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, 

 No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, 

 November 1" 



Most of the poets, however, have not been con- 

 tent with picturing merely the negative qualities of 

 the month, but have expressed a sense of profound 

 desolation in the whole November landscape. 



Walter Malone gives us this dismal picture : 



"No voice is heard in field or forest nigh 



To break the desolation of the spell, 

 Save one sad mocking-bird in boughs near by, 

 Who sings like Tasso in his madman's cell." 



S. Frances Harrison, poet though she be, con- 

 fesses to a lack of vision on dull November days : 



