A Poem for Every Autumn Day

A Poem for Every Season

by Allie Esiri

Within the pages of Allie Esiri's gorgeous collection, A Poem for Every Autumn Day you will find verse that will transport you to vibrant autumnal scenes, from harvest festival to Remembrance Day.

Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family, this book dazzles with an array of familiar favourites and remarkable new discoveries selected from Allie Esiri’s bestselling poetry anthologies A Poem for Every Day of the Year and A Poem for Every Night of the Year. These seasonal poems – together with introductory paragraphs – have a link to the date on which they appear.

Includes poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, John Betjeman, Amy Lowell, Paul Laurence Dunbar, William Shakespeare and Christina Rossetti who sit alongside Seamus Heaney, John Agard, Simon Armitage, Patience Agbabi and Imtiaz Dharker. This soul-enhancing book will keep you company for every day of your life.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Anthologies, Classics, Cozy, Literature

270 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2020

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished this a little earlier than intended, but overall, I liked it. It's a very mixed bag though.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful collection contains every poem you'd expect given the title. I haven't thought of one I would have liked to see included and isn't, and I've discovered lots of new poems while reading.

Many of the poems are atmospheric, conjuring images of fiery leaves, cold winds and bonfires. They are perfect for reading as the season turns, tucked up under a blanket on a chilly evening.

But Autumn is more than just a change in the weather, and A Poem for Every Autumn Day reflects this. Early September poems mention the return to school, November includes war poetry for Remembrance day, and the poems for the 31st October are an extract from John Kendrick Bangs' Hallowe'en and the memorably creepy verse sung by Roald Dahl's Witches.

I also really enjoyed the short paragraphs of context included in with each poem, which aided my understanding of poems I hadn't come across before and increased my enjoyment of them.

A Poem for Every Autumn Day is a lovely addition to Macmillan and Esiri's poetry series, and I look forward to seeing how they expand on it with such beautiful, thoughtful collections.

[Lizzie S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

- Robert Frost

The first of Allie Esiri's series, a Poem for Every Day and Night of the Year, this takes the reader from the beginning of September to the end of November. As is often the case with anthologies, I enjoyed some of these poems more than others. Overall, I preferred the selections in the spring edition a little bit more.

[Leaflet · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pains me deeply to say that I was underwhelmed by this anthology. I had eagerly looked forward to its arrival in my mailbox. The attractive autumnal cover with the usual fall images, squirrel, pumpkin, fox, oak leaves, a bat, wee mushrooms, led me to believe that the cover (not to mention the title) reflected the contents. Not a bit of it. Well, a little bit of it did, I admit, but a good many of the poems weren’t necessarily ‘autumn poems’. A very good many. At least not my idea of what qualifies as an autumn poem. For one thing, there seemed to be an awful lot of war and battle-themed poems. A. Lot. of. them. The autumn = death/dying theme was over-worked, to the point of depressing. Poetry is a very personal taste, so I’ll say no more (though I could) other than this collection didn’t hang well together for me. Any plans I had of collecting the other seasonal anthologies have died with this one. What a shame.

[Sofia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blev väldigt besviken. Hittade en handfull dikter som var fina och på temat, men det är typ inget höstigt i den här samlingen alls? Men väldigt mycket dikter om krig? En jäkla blandning av dikter, högt och lågt. Skulle inte rekommendera den till någon som är ute efter något höstigt dock.

[Alanna McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really adored this book, it's a perfect book to read in autumn. You will get lost in all the poem and just forget what ever your thinking. I highly recommend this read 💜👌🏻

[Tracy Larner-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, reading these (mostly performing them out loud to my audience of 2 dogs!) was pure joy every day and will be repeated annually.

[subaha · Rating 2 out of 5]

read it through the season but I wouldn't recommend it at all. few of the poems I liked were the ones I'd already read before or heard about... there are some beautiful poems in there but as an anthology it's a failure

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a 2.5 stars really, but this collection just didn't work all that well for me in the end. I was expecting a specifically autumnal collection, but the majority of the poems in here didn't really fit that theme very well. I did like the facts we got for every day in terms of what event or moment in history the day depicted, and that the chosen poems went along with that, but I have to admit that a lot of the poems weren't to my taste. There were some cracking ones though, and it has further reminded me of just how good a wordsmith Roald Dahl was, and also that even if I'm not the biggest poetry fan, I really need to seek out more from Robert Frost and Thomas Hardy.

[hamda · Rating 2 out of 5]

i read it through septemeber, october and november. it's a great concept and it was nice to look forward to. there are many gems hidden in the book and some old poems that everyone knows and loves. it has its good moments. but on a whole, i found this book disgustingly british. many of the poems had strong colonial and imperialist themes. it talks over many culture (mostly asian and african) and borders on erasure. it commemorates a lots of war "holidays" and ends up glorifying a lot of crimes. those were uncomfortable to read and angered me a lot.

it says the book is intended for children, i would not recommend it for children.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a LOT of poems about death and war, which is fine, but not my cup of tea. I felt like the themes weren't really autumnal. I wanted more things about the changing of seasons and falling leaves from trees and cozy feels.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfying seasonal read. A good book for people who don’t read a lot of poetry. It includes both well known, less known and obscure choices. I’d like to see more women poets in these collections.

[Rozarka · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book I have read from the series. It's quite a commitment to read a poem every day for a year, a somewhat larger commitment than I was prepared for. I had to take a break for a few weeks and then marathoned a third of the book in one sitting. It worked as I hoped - it revived my love for poetry. The fact that the November poems worked for me thematically helped as well (they were mostly about war and death... oh well). Now I'm looking forward to the winter ones.

[Sintija Buhanovska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ir labi, ja ir vēlme katru dienu palasīt pāris dzejoļu. Tie ir dažādi: klasika no vecmeistariem un kaut kas nedaudz avangardisks; dzeja, kas pieskaņota gadalaika notikumiem vai vienkārši laikapstākļiem un cilvēka dzīves plūdumam. Katru ievada neliels paskaidrojums, kāpēc konkrētais pants izvēlēts.

[Charlotte Coyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical impatient child that I am, apparently I couldn't wait two extra days to finish this collection on 30th November! 😂🙈

[Sophie Woodhouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were definitely some nice poems that I discovered while reading this, but unfortunately the bad outweighs the good with this collection. So many repeated poets and way more men than women.
‘For every autumn day’ but rather than being about the seasons and the beauty/vibes of autumn, it was mostly death and war, and little bits of trivia to introduce the next poem: ‘the battle of … took place … years ago’, ‘… people died during … event in history’. Not for me

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow... Some of these reviews are disappointing, for they clearly don't understand the meaning and grasp of poetry whatsoever. Sad.

ANYWAY...

There's quite an eclectic mix of poetry in this collection which I admire first and foremost about the book; classics, old favourites, and I've also discovered quite a few poems that are new to me, personally.
The cover illustration(s) are absolutely gorgeous and stays true to the season!
Each poem contains a snippet; a little information about the day/anniversary, the poem, and/or the poet themselves.
The title of the books are also misleading in the best way possible; it's not only a poem for every Autumn/Winter/Spring/Summer DAY as it suggests, but there's a poem for every Night, too! BONUS! Xxx

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm Christian, but the amount of religious "poems" that is pushed down the reader's throat in this collection was unpleasant, surprising, and unnecessary. Nobody who picks up an autumnal poem collection needs to read the Lord's Prayer. I've read the whole book, day by day, this past autumn, and found some choices wonderfully fitting and autumnal, while others were baffling, ridiculous, and made me consider throwing this book out the window, completing it be damned. Will not be reading any of the other books in this series, I'm afraid it would be a waste of my time.

[Danny · Rating 2 out of 5]

i expected more autumnal feels. like 99% autumnal. not the Gettysburg address.

[Steph De Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice seasonal anthology that I've quite enjoyed making my way through this autumn. There are poems to mark notable dates, such as Guy Fawkes' Day and Armistice Day, while poems selected for other days have a more general autumnal theme, some more tenuously so than others. I was pleased both to encounter several old favourites here - for example, Keats' "To Autumn", Frost's "The Road Not Taken", and Owen's "Anthem for Doomed Youth" - and to make some satisfying new discoveries, such as Hughes' "Full Moon and Little Frieda", Lawrence's "Autumn Rain" and Rumi's "The Guest House".

I must, nevertheless, make two complaints against this collection. First, Esiri has included here (presumably in the interest of appealing to as broad an audience as possible) a number of lighter poems - many of them contemporary - that, personally, I don't find particularly appealing or worthy of merit. Second, I feel slightly aggrieved that the marketing for this anthology is not clearer about the fact that these poems are drawn, almost without exception, from two of Esiri's previous publications: "A Poem for Every Day of the Year" and "A Poem for Every Night of the Year". If you own those, as I do, this new anthology is entirely superfluous.

Thus, while I don't intend to purchase the "Winter", "Spring" and "Summer" instalments of this seasonal quartet, I look forward to making my way through at least one of Esiri's two larger anthologies in the new year.

[May De Mendieta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poem a day - this magical journey through words and rhymes made me realize how similar we all are, the seasons have not change and the feelings towards them stay relevant. I enjoyed the beauty of the words, my favorite thing about reading and books is how words - simple words can be transform into scenes, into smells into memories into visual representations and I love the use of words to evoke an emotion. It was seasonal and perfect to welcome the fall. From September until the end of November we get a “ a treat a day” of beautiful verses to immerse ourselves into the vibrant autumnal colors, smells, nature and traditions. I enjoyed the idea of reading a poem a day it actually makes me want to read more poems which I do not do often, ( besides my beautiful Emily Dickinson she is my forever favorite poet and will always love her) this is an excellent way to start if you are not a heavy poem reader, of course there are some poems that are SUPERIOR than others and others that are boring lol however for the most part I enjoyed it, I hated the religious once but I liked that they kinda involved multiple religions and not just one, my favorite once where the nature heavy once - of course. Overall I enjoyed it! I don’t know if I could do this type of book for each season but perhaps I could star reading poems more often.

[Maltheus Broman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not strictly a collection of only one theme, but more of a seasonal calendar in the shape of a book sprinkled with some autumnal poetry here and there, A Poem For Every Autumn Day surprises with some lesser known pieces alongside famous classics. Each piece comes with a neat little introduction and can be read and enjoyed in less than five minutes. So, the series is just perfect for a habit-forming daily tea time.

[Alexia ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I always wanted to read more Poetry but it was hard for me to pick up a book and read a bunch of poems, so I decided to try this format and I enjoyed it! It had some beautiful poems in here, though I agree with another reviewer that there were a LOT of poems about War and Fighting, not sure why. Overall, it's a nice compilation of poems and I'm gonna start reading the Winter one next :)

[Ronak AhmadyAhangar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection. When I ordered the volume I didn’t realize it contained an entry for each day and night, which was a pleasant surprise as I had expected just one poem for every calendar day. Can’t wait to start the winter collection (a few days late but oh well)

[Manon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title made me hope for more autumn poems than were actually featured in here.

[Matilda Furness · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed anthology of poems. Most of them didn't feel autumny at all. A lot of War poems but also some funny and beautiful

[Zena Vee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I somehow expected autumnal poems, but this turned out not to be the case. It was a bit of everything mostly.

[ouliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

read it in one sitting oops

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

An evocative collection for a gentle season...

This is a lovely, sometimes quirky, collection of autumnal poetry. I love that the anniversaries of certain events are marked with relevant verses, and the collection of war poetry around Remembrnce Day. The poem choices are often surprising but are so perfectly autumn. Just lovely.

[stephanie]

hope you like rhyming poems