The poet loves to see the ‘leaves depart”. He admires the stark splendour of the “clear anatomy” of the bare and lifeless trees. He states that autumn is the “paragon of art” – the epitome of artistic creativity and skill as nature looks magnificent in its bleakness and lack of greenery.
The poet uses onomatopoeia in the words “clanging chains”. The geese fly across the skies, calling to each other with sounds that are similar to links of chains knocking against each other.
The olive trees are blown and are “strained” by the strong winds and they bend over exposing their white undersides. They are seemingly overwhelmed with “toil” – but they do not break and hold on the way wrestlers hold on to each other in a ring. They endure and are resilient enough to be stripped but survive through the winter to the spring.
The poet speaks of the “red froth” of the wine and the “sun-gold oil”. He also uses a simile to compare the wine to the colour of a “ruby” in stanza four. These colours are warm and rich and evoke a sense of cosiness and comfort.