When Charles Ives compiled his set of 114 Songs, he included some songs newly arranged from larger-scale earlier compositions. One of these was December, a choral song with small orchestra based on a translation from Medieval Italian by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Transforming the choral work into a solo song evidently impelled him to return to the same source and write two new songs, August, and September, grouping them with December as a subset he titled "From Early Italian Poets." The original text is from Mesi (The Months), a set of 14 sonnets by Folgore da San Geminiano (ca. 1250 - 1317).

September is a typical Medieval hunting scene with hunting birds participating in luring game birds for the hunters. A spirit of generosity infuses the text. Ives' tempo marking is Presto, with the rapid melodic line (written in note values as short as thirty-second notes despite the fast underlying tempo) darting about in a way that suggests these birds. The piano part is written to be played "Presto or as fast as possible," which in practice means as fast as the singer can get the notes out in this difficult vocal part. The piano texture alternates between whirling arpeggios in mixed keys and sparkling staccato sixteenth-note chords. Ives specifies that the pianist should use both pedals throughout, but this might have been meant to pertain to the arpeggiated texture.

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