Emily Dickinson Lexicon

Auburn, proper n. [OFr < L. alburnus, nearly white; see auburn, adj.]

Autumn; Fall; season when leaves change color and fall off; [word play; see auburn, adj.] red, brown, or gold-colored leaves; [fig.] death; grave site; [word play] Mount Auburn cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts (see ED letters); allusion to a 1770 poem “Deserted Village” by Oliver Goldsmith: “Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain.”