3- Keats: To Autumn

Question 1

‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’

Answer 1

• cataloguing of elemental characteristics of Autumn, fecund imagery indic of fruitfulness + sheer abundance (internal rhyme and euphonic consonance reinforce opulence and luxuriant atmosphere)

Question 2

‘thee sitting careless on a granary floor […] drowsed with the fume of poppies.’

Answer 2

• K personify Autumn ‘sitting careless’ while ‘drowsed with fume of poppies’/ feminine portrayal of season stereotypically convey nurture _ maternal qual of Aut.
• Olfactory imagery = purpose assist feverish detach from reality, allow K 2 embrace uncomprehensible joys of nat w/o urden of hum desire 2 understand

Question 3

‘cider-press, with patient look: thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours’

Answer 3

• follow Keats’ sensual deification of Autumn as fertile and beautiful
• synaesthetic imagery = overripe apples, signal motif of age and decay/ onomatopoeia beat cons of fermentation, as repetition illustrates a concrete image of death.

Question 4

‘where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?’

Answer 4

• series of interrogatives = apostrophising seasons = ubi sunt motif as Keat provide solace to autumn to X mourn death of spring