November (or Fall's Gash is Gold-Vermillion)

Savannah Battle, Cedarville UniversityFollow

Keywords

Cedarville, undergraduate, literary journal

Department/School of Contributor's Major

Science and Mathematics

Publication Date

Spring 2025

Disciplines

Type of Work

Poetry

DOI

10.15385/jcr.2025.25.22

Contributor's Note

This is a three-part poem, weaving together fall leaves, fire, and the soul. It was inspired by the ideas and images of Jordan II by George Herbert and The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins (hence the secondary title), and by the gorgeous sugar maples of the ‘Ville! Specifically, the question that sparked my thinking in this poem was, “Why is fall so beautiful and nostalgic to us, when, in some sense, it signifies death?” and, “How can our death, as Christians, be beautiful?” That second question is mostly where I seek to interact with Herbert’s realization about self-wrought beauty versus the ready-made “sweetnesse” of Jesus, Himself. Hopkins' poem informed my answer. Our dying can thus be a rising, and be beautiful, simply and only because of our dying, resurrected, and undying Lord.

Disclaimer

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Recommended Citation

Battle, Savannah (2025) "November (or Fall's Gash is Gold-Vermillion)," Cedarville Review: Vol. 25, Article 19.
DOI: 10.15385/jcr.2025.25.22
Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/cedarvillereview/vol25/iss1/19