To Autumn by John Keats Flashcards
‘Story’ + Message of ‘To Autumn’:
- Celebration of the natural world – hymn of praise ‘To Autumn’
- Presents Autumn as a time of celebration and harvest – the narrator delights in its sensual beauty
- Narrates the passing of Autumn
Tone of ‘To Autumn’:
- Awe + appreciation of autumn and its importance
- Appreciation of the power of nature and. Its beauty – particularly the season of autumn
Imagery of ‘To Autumn:
- The speaker uses imagery of fruits, flowers and nuts to describe how autumn fills everything with ripeness and sweetness
- Imagery of the dying away of plants and migration of animals – signifying the end of autumn and the soon beginning of winter
What is Keats part of?
- Keats is generally classified as one of the Romantic poets
- Romanticism was a general artists movement (literature, music, the visual arts, etc.) which dominated European culture from the last part of the 18th century until the mid-19th century
Key aspects of the Romantics movement:
o a deep appreciation of the power and beauty of nature
o a recognition of the influence of the senses and of personal emotion
o an understanding of the deeper meaning of life
* All of these may be seen at work in Keats’ To Autumn which reflects on mankind’s relationship with a particular time of year
How was Keats inspired to write the poem?
- He wrote the poem inspired by a walk he had taken through the countryside; it is, therefore, a highly personal response
John Keats context:
- 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
“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” - 1sts stanza
- poet is addressing autumn directly - apostrophe (rhetorical form of address)
- lavish, sensuous imagery – reflected by sound as well as meaning – long vowels + consonant clusters
“Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; / Conspiring with him how to load and bless” - 1st stanza
- season of autumn usually associated with life coming to an end – but in first stanza Keats paints a picture of nature being in its prime
- visualising season of autumn as a woman
- Autumn shares a connection with the sun dimming (maturing) into the winter months
- However, they are old friends, scheming ways to make the season’s fruit ripen well and abundantly
- “maturing” as an active verb: it is the force that makes the crops ripen
- sun and the season are personified
Semantic fields of images of “excess”
- “fill”, “swell”, “plump”, “o’er brimmed” - 1st stanza
- semantic field of abundance
- Keat introduces ideas of excess in 1st stanza – his musing starts at point death begins. Just beyond the prime
- Keats was preparing for his premature deaths as if he’d reached his ripeness as a poet before his time
“And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; / To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells” - 1st stanza
- larger fruits “gourd” and smaller nuts “hazels” have fattened with “kernel” – now at peak of ripeness
- see effect of early autumn in flowers
“Until they think warm days will never cease, / For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.” - 1st stanza
- early Autumn
- surfeit of nature introducing first subtle note of caution
- caution created through imagined overconfidence of bees who image their “warm days will never cease”
- long vowel sounds add to rich sensual imagery
- “Until they think warm days will never cease.” – subtly sinister, in previous line Keats paints fairly standard picture of summer tranquillity (bees pollination flowers)
- suggests that the warm days will cease by stating that the bees “think” they will never cease
“Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find / Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,” - 2nd stanza
- personification is of a woman sitting sleepily in a granary
- images of lethargy jump out at you – Autumn described as sitting careless
- could be quite innocuous and peaceful but lack of vitality may also signal something morbid
- develop ambiguity further – meaning of “careless” is without a worry – suggesting something positive + youthful, carefree attitude
- second meaning is negligent suggesting thoughtlessness and wastefulness
“And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep / Steady thy laden head across a brook;” - 2nd stanza
- personification of Autumn continues
- “gleaner” was a peasant in the village who went the the fields at harvest time to collect what was left by farmers – leaving corner of field un-reaped for gleaners ta city was customary form of charity in England at the time
“Or by a cyder-press, with patient look, / Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours” - 2nd stanza
- she is patiently waiting by a “cyder-press”
- cider made from overripe apples so fruit no longer at best and slightly overdone (past eating)
- “oozings” – onomatopoeia – suggests final ebb of life, stretched out + long vowels
- contributes to theme of excess and anticipation that the future will be less happy than the past
- long vowels in repetition of “hours” also fits slow pace of proceeding lines – maintains feeling of lethargy
