Thomas Hood (1789-1845 / London / England)
Poems by Thomas Hood : 36 / 102
November
No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
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!
Thomas Hood
Submitted: Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Read poems about / on: moon, sun, time, butterfly, flower
Poems by Thomas Hood : 36 / 102
PoemHunter.com Updates
-
Autistic Pride Day
June 18
-
Happy Birthday Geoffrey Hill!
English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion
-
Happy Birthday George Essex Evans!
(1863-1909) Australian poet
-
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
Theme 2013: Drought and water scarcity
Top 500 Poems
-
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
-
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
-
If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
-
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
-
Dreams
Langston Hughes
-
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
-
If
Rudyard Kipling
-
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
-
Invictus
William Ernest Henley
-
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou

The poem actually has several more verses, showing what the month was like in fog-filled London in the early Victorian period when he wrote it. It's most quoted version is as above; probably from a 1980s pop band using it on an album, though I'm not sure of that. As a child I always resented it because I was a November baby and it was always quoted at me on my birthday. I like it better if I see it as a description of a specific time and place in that month rather than an insult to the month (though I do have to admit it is sometimes true of November!) .
No-one who has experienced the English winter can read this poem without a shiver of amusement!