Paul Laurence Dunbar:
(Dayton, 27 June 1872 – there, 9 February 1906).
American author.
October is the treasure of the year, and all the months pay bounty to her store.
The line is usually misquoted with “treasure.” Dunbar’s original wording is:
> “October is the treasurer of the year,
> And all the months pay bounty to her store.”
💡 Meaning:
Dunbar personifies October as the year’s ’treasurer’:
– The preceding months contribute their agricultural riches—fruit, grain, and other harvests—
to October’s ‘store’ or treasury.
– The fields and orchards fill her metaphorical ‘coffers’.
– October then displays this wealth in the brilliant red, purple, and gold colors of autumn.
The following lines make the metaphor explicit:
> “The fields and orchards still their tribute bear,
> And fill her brimming coffers more and more.”
Thus, October is both the ‘keeper of the year’s harvest’ and a lavish figure who displays her riches through autumn foliage.
In modern prose:
> ‘October gathers the abundance produced throughout the year and reveals it in the harvest and magnificent colors of autumn.’
✍️ Author and origin:
Written by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906),
the influential African American poet and novelist.
The lines open his poem “October,” collected in “Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow” (1905). It was later included in editions of “The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar”.
When August days are hot and dry, I won’t sit by and sigh or die, I’ll get my bottle on the sly, and go ahead, and fish, and lie.
This line describes a speaker who, when summer days are hot and dry, ‘refuses to complain or “wait for bad luck.”’
Instead, they:
– ‘won’t just sigh and give up’
– ‘will secretly get the bottle’
– ‘will go fishing’
– and ‘will “lie”’ in the sense of ‘resting/relaxing or having leisure’, not (necessarily) telling falsehoods
Overall vibe:
‘practical, playful determination’
— endure summer by enjoying yourself rather than sulking.
🕵️ Origin 🧾:
The quotation you gave is commonly cited as being from Paul Laurence Dunbar, an important African American poet of the late 1800s/early 1900s.
That said, because Dunbar’s work has been printed in many collections (and some lines circulate online with slight spelling/word variations), the ‘exact’ source (which specific poem or publication) can depend on the version being quoted.
✍️ Author 👤:
– Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)
– American poet and writer, known for:
– dialect writing (often using African American vernacular)
– humor, folk-life themes
– sharp social observation
🔎 Quick note on wording ✍️:
Lines like “get my bottle on the sly” and “fish, and lie” reflect a dialect/vernacular style typical of some Dunbar poems. In that context:
– “bottle” usually implies alcohol (or liquor)
– “on the sly” implies secretively/without asking permission
– “lie” most likely means ‘lie down/rest’, i.e., “take it easy” while fishing/leisure happens.
Oh it was sweet to think that May should be ours again, hoping it not, I shrink out of the sight of men.
