AutumnClass 9 English Chapter 2 Notes – Maharashtra Board

Summary: Autumn

The poet imagines autumn arriving as a lovely, slender young woman who moves with grace.

Her hair is decorated with rice stalks that nod in the breeze, her face glows like lilies, and her dress is made of flowering grasses — pictures of autumn's ripe fields and blossoming plants.

As she walks, the birds welcome her with happy cooing that sounds like the soft jingling of bracelets.

At night she wears a crown of countless stars, and the white moonlight, now free of clouds, is her silky gown. The bright moon is her face, smiling in a charming way.

She is still a slim young girl, but she will soon grow into a full woman — autumn will soon grow fuller and richer as the season matures.

Key points to remember

• Poet: Kalidas; translated into English by Prof. A. W. Ryder
• The whole poem personifies Autumn as a 'maiden fair' (a beautiful young girl)
• Daytime images: nodding rice-stems, lilies, flowering grasses, cooing birds
• Night images: a diadem of countless stars, white moonlight like a silk robe, the radiant moon as her face
• 'Cloudy bars' — patches of cloud; in autumn the monsoon clouds clear away, so moonlight is free
• Simile: the birds' cooing is like the tinkling of a bracelet
• Metaphors: moonlight is her silken robe; the moon is her face; the stars are her crown
• Rhyme scheme: abab in each group of four lines
• Autumn in the Indian calendar is Sharad ritu
• Mood: joyful, gentle and full of admiration for nature

Autumn – Notes

1. Meaning in simple words

• Lines 1–4: Autumn comes like a pretty young woman, slim and graceful. Rice stalks sway in her hair and her face is as fresh as lilies.
• Lines 5–8: She is dressed in grass flowers. Wherever she walks, birds coo joyfully to welcome her, a sound like bracelets jingling.
• Lines 9–12: At night she wears a crown of numberless stars. Her robe is the white moonlight, which is no longer hidden behind clouds.
• Lines 13–16: The shining moon is her face, smiling enchantingly. She is still a young girl now, but soon she will be a grown woman.

2. Images of autumn: day and night

• Day: rice crops ripening and bending in the fields (rice-stems in her hair).
• Day: lilies blooming in ponds (lilies in her face).
• Day: grasses in flower covering the ground (clad in grass flowers).
• Day: birds cooing happily (like a bracelet's tinkling).
• Night: a sky full of stars (a diadem of stars).
• Night: clear, bright moonlight after the rainy clouds have gone (silken robe set free from cloudy bars).
• Night: the radiant full moon (her smiling face).

3. Figures of speech

• Personification: Autumn is a maiden who dresses, walks, smiles and will grow up.
• Simile: the glad cooing of birds is compared to a bracelet's tinkling song (uses 'like').
• Metaphor: autumn is 'a maiden fair'; the moonlight is 'her silken robe'; the moon is 'her face'; the stars form a 'diadem'.
• Exclamation: the line about the diadem adorning the night ends with '!' to show wonder.
• Alliteration: 'silken… set free', 'moonlight… moon… maid'.

4. Rhyme scheme and the seasons

• Rhyme scheme: abab — fair/hair, grace/face; clad/glad, along/song; night/moonlight, stars/bars; moon/soon, shown/grown.
• Six Indian seasons: Vasant (spring), Grishma (summer), Varsha (monsoon), Sharad (autumn), Hemant (pre-winter / late autumn), Shishir (winter).
• Autumn = Sharad ritu, after the monsoon: clear skies, bright moonlight, ripe crops and many festivals such as Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali.

Words and phrases to know

Key terms

Autumn – Flashcards

Read the question, answer it in your head, then tap the card to check. 20 cards.

Autumn – MCQ Quiz

15 questions. Tap an option — you will see at once if it is right and why.

How to study Autumn

⏱ About 20 minutes

1. Read (5 min)
   Read the poem slowly and picture the maiden: by day in the fields, by night in the sky.
2. Learn (8 min)
   Learn the word meanings (diadem, multitudinous, bars, radiant), the day and night images, the simile, metaphors and rhyme scheme abab.
3. Practise (7 min)
   Answer the 'Try it yourself' questions, take the quiz and play 🎮 Play.