To Autumn Flashcards
Poet
John Keats
Structure/Form
The poem is in the form of an ode – highlighting and praising the particular time of year. It is the last of what has come to be known as Keats’ six great odes, all written in the same year (1819). In some of his other, equally famous odes, Keats uses ten lines in each stanza but here he uses one extra line. At the same time as giving the poem more interest, it echoes the idea in the content of there being an excess of everything.
The first four lines of each stanza follow the regular rhyme scheme abab, but the other seven show more variation, with lines 9 and 10 having rhyming couplets, echoing back to a rhyme earlier in each stanza. This relatively complex rhyme scheme allows the poet to introduce the focus of each stanza, then explore the ideas in a more leisurely and considered way.
The basic rhythm of the poem is iambic pentameter, though Keats introduces a number of variations to ensure the poem never becomes mechanical and repetitive.
Context
Romantic poet. He wrote the poem inspired by a walk he had taken through the countryside; it is, therefore, a highly personal response.
Keats initially trained as a surgeon but gave it up to write poetry. Six months after completing To Autumn, he experienced the first signs of the tuberculosis that would end his life. In the poem it is almost as though the medically-trained poet has understood that his life will soon end and he is preparing himself for death. Keats died in 1821 aged just 25. Despite his short life, Keats has had a major impact on poetry and is regarded as one of the most important poets in literary history.
Soft-dying day
Keats personifies day as dying because it is coming to an end. Alliteration on the ‘d’ creates a melancholy sound as the day is described as dying, sunlight becomes muted and darkness falls.. The adjective ‘soft’ reflects that the death is a gentle death, not a violent occurrence, slowly coming to an end as the light of day dies out.
The small gnats mourn
Animalistic anthropomorphism is used in this line to give human emotions to insects – as if they are mourning the death of autumn. The poet emphasises that even the
smallest of creatures are affected by the change of seasons and mood. As the lights get dimmer, gnats emerge. The collective buzzing sound they make is like a choir singing at a funeral.
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells/ With a sweet kernel
describe the ripeness of everything at autumn time. Everything is at its very best for man’s use. He uses assonance ‘shells’ and ‘kernel’ to describes the landscape, trees and animals as being in their prime.
Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft/ The redbreast whistles
The closing section of the poem is alive with the noises that various birds and insects make. The poet uses sensory language such as ‘sing’ and ‘whistles’ to remind the reader that though the year may be drawing to a close, the cycle of life still goes on. It almost reads as a syndetic list of what the poet can see and hear around him – we can follow his train of thought. Words such as ‘twitter’ are onomatopoeic in that they mimic the sound of the birds singing.
Where are the songs of spring?
The rhetorical question includes sibilance to refer to the opposite season of spring. Keats reassures autumn that spring is not so brilliant – as it doesn’t hang around any longer than autumn does – even though it appears to be more celebrated. Keats alludes to the pastoral tradition wherein shepherds typically sing during springtime – season of newness. He makes this comparison to show that autumn is just as important.
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Personification - autumn and the sun are both personified. Nature is given human emotions.
Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness
This opening, exclamatory line has tones of sibilance in its description of the weather in autumn. Alliteration is also used to create a slow rhythm to the line, which reflects the fact that everything is slowing down in preparation for autumn. The poet, however, is not displeased by this fact – he seems, instead, to be celebrating the richness of nature.
