Summary:
In his poem "To Autumn," John Keats portrays the different aspects of autumn and its progression through time. Through his use of vivid imagery and literary devices such as simile, personification, and rhetorical questions, Keats establishes the beauty and fulfillment of autumn and outlines autumn's mixture of ripening, fulfillment, dying, and death.
To Autumn by John Keats
The poem "To Autumn" written by John Keats is about the season of autumn where the composer talks about the different stages of autumn and emphasizes autumn's progression through time.
Throughout the poem Keats uses vivid imagery to attract the reader's interest as well as appealing to the senses of sight and taste. Also through the use of language devices of similes, personification and rhetorical questions the composer is able to establish a natural atmosphere, with its mixture of ripening, fulfillment, dying and death.
The first stanza of "To Autumn" concerns itself with the beauty and extravagance of autumn appealing to the senses of sight and taste. The first line, "seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness" arouses visual imagery where the word "mellow" is used to depict the colour of autumn. The "mists and mellow fruitfulness" suggest the rustic colour of the fruits and leaves. Whereas the lines, "And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; to swell the gourd and plump the hazel shells" describes the harvesting of fruits and conveys the image of autumn working together with the sun to ripen and plump the fruits. There is also an association if the sense of taste where the composer mentions "with a sweet kernel; to set budding more."
The second stanza personifies autumn as a lady, where autumn is given the characteristics of a woman where she is "sitting careless on a granary floor" which explains that she is calm relaxed and reflective because the work of spring and summer are over. The effect of "the winnowing wind" highlights alliteration and onomatopoeia where the word "winnowing" evokes soft images which contain positive connotations of soft sounds.
Here the composer reveals that we should appreciate the gifts and unique experience that autumn brings.
There is a relaxed atmosphere where the composer mentions "Drows'd with the fumes of poppies while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers." The words "Drows'd" and "swath" are both examples of long and slow vowels which create a slow rhythm and pace. "Twined flowers" portrays the image of slow and little movement where everything is almost standing still. The second stanza moves slowly as "thou watchest the last oozing hours by hours."
The third stanza is a comparison from winter to spring, "where are the songs of spring? Ay where are they?" in this stanza the composer makes an understanding that autumn, which represents the end of life, is just as important as spring, which represents new life. This has been shown in the last five lines of the poem where it shows spring as birth where, "full grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourne..."
Therefore in terms of the way nature is presented, "To Autumn" by John Keats has used imagery to portray the different aspects of autumn and "To Autumn" has a number of words being emphasised to create a long period of time and giving a general feeling of abundance. The Romanticist wanted to express his opinions of beauty, nature and decay.
This is the complete article, containing 501 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
