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 !" 



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 : 



