Abstract
Here is presented a descriptive essay on autumn.  It describes the essence of the season, what makes it unique and so different from the other three.  It tells why it is the season of poets, the season of prayer, and the season of Thanksgiving.  Autumn represents the harvest—not just of the fruit of the fields but also of life itself.  Autumn is the time in which man turns his mind to his own final end, to his own mortality, and yet maintains hope for good things to come.

Introduction

What is it that makes autumn so special?  Perhaps it is that autumn is the season of poets.  Keats wrote his ode “To Autumn,” describing it as the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.”  Hopkins penned “Spring and Fall,” with all the emphasis on the latter as he asked to the young girl to whom the poem was dedicated:  

“Márgarét, áre you gríeving

Over Goldengrove unleaving?

Leáves like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?”

Hopkins gently chided Margaret, convinced that she was not so much mourning the falling of the leaves as she was mourning her own fallen nature and the debt that she—like all—must inevitably pay—though, of course, what could she know of this, being only a child?  Hopkins, like a cold autumnal cloud, poured cold water all over the girl’s feelings—and sneered not a little while doing it.  To prove what?  That man is meant to grieve?—and what better time to grieve than when nature itself seems in the very throes of its final hours, offering a flash of terminal lucidity?  

But then again, that is autumn.  Autumn is like a ghost calling an end to summer’s swells, to paraphrase Keats.  It is the end of the dance—yet not the end of the dance.  There is still light left, but the sun is in its descent.  The sky is orange and purpling now.  The warmth from the day is now giving place to a slight nipping breeze.  And what awaits…?  Something on the other side?  Autumn is the season of spirits.  All Hallow’s Eve, followed by the Feast of All Saints, followed by the Feast of All Souls (Newland, 1999):  prayers for the dead.  Prayers for the poor souls in purgatory.  Feasting and praying, fasting and mourning.

Autumn is the season of cemeteries.  Yet it does not leave one there.  It is also a season of hunkering down, of gathering and storing and getting ready for the long winter months ahead.  Autumn is a season for thinking on the end of things—but it is not the end of things itself.

Body

But what is it about the season of autumn that turns one’s thoughts to the end of things?  Is it the yellow browns, the crisp chill in the air that foreshadows the cold snap of winter?  Yet fall is full of life, too:  outdoor walks, football at the local high school, raking leaves into piles in the yard, trick or treating with friends, Thanksgiving with family, romantic rides in the countryside to see the changing colors of the foliage—all of these represent some of life’s most memorable moments.  Perhaps that is why autumn is so often linked with reflection.  Autumn causes the mind to stop and pause, to look back while also musing on what lies ahead.  There is a wistfulness about Autumn—something at once youthful...…serenity of snow-covered streets and lawns—the quiet stillness of a crystallized world after a foot of snow has muffled all the sounds of the ordinarily chaotic world.  Autumn says goodbye and leaves it to winter to re-focus the activities of mankind onto new chores and responsibilities.  For life does not conclude with the harvest.  Autumn is not the final word.  It is merely a passing moment in the great big scheme of things—a significant moment, no doubt—but one that is followed, hopefully, by many more chapters yet to come.

Conclusion

This descriptive essay on autumn should have provided the reader with a sense of what autumn is all about.  The sights, the sounds, the smells, the sensations—all of it is here:  from the leaves turning yellow, orange and brown in their silent firework display of color before falling to the ground; to the high school Friday night football games, the student body and proud parents in the stands; hot dogs and cocoa and popcorn sold at the concessions booth; cheerleaders cheering on their team at the sidelines.  There will be the homecoming dance, a parade, a king and queen crowned.  There will be trick or treating—and for pious souls there will be the Feast of All Saints and a month of prayer for the dead.  It is the season of harvest-time, when the fruits of the field are finally gathered and distributed and the earth is stripped of its bounty, looking bare and depleted.  Yet the tables will be full for Thanksgiving, and family will be gathered around.  Thanks will be given for all God’s blessings, and hope will be communicated among one and all for union with the divine goodness.  Autumn is a season…