To Autumn
BY JOHN KEATS
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
The first few lines of the poem are very sensual and provide a vivid picture of a fall setting. Words like “mists”, “mellow fruitfulness”, and “sun” give the poem an outdoorsy feeling from the start. The setting is practically heavenly- the fruits are ripe, flowers are bloomed, and apparently, hazel shells are plump. The end of the first stanza says “Until they think warm days will never cease / For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy shells” which signifies that the poem is describing summer, if it wasn’t clear before this. However, the poem is titled “To Autumn”. From this, I realized that nature is currently in that late summer haze, unaware that this state is only temporary.
The next stanza mentions a person: “Who hath not seen thee oft amid they store?”. This sentence took me time to understand, but because the previous stanza had so many references to harvesting, I think that this sentence is referring to a farmer or harvester in their “store” which means they’re among their crops. The harvester could symbolize what’s mentioned in the title: autumn. Additionally, the poem states that “whoever seeks abroad may find / Thee sitting careless on a granary floor” which makes me think of a reaper who already has stocked their granary and is preparing for the colder seasons. Additionally, the line “Or on a half reap’d furrow sound asleep” might mean that only half of the crop has been reaped; the leftover crop is due to the extravagant growth described previously. The poem then says that the harvester, meaning autumn, is like a “gleaner” which, in a farming context, is someone who tediously picks up grains that were left in the field by harvesters. Autumn kills the leftover harvest that is not needed for the winter. It watches “the last oozings hours by hours” creating cider from the apples that were once full and ripe. In this stanza, the tone slightly shifts due to darker word choices such as “swath”, “gleaner”, and “hook”. While these words are not necessarily negative, they indicate harvest- the finality of the season, as opposed to the peak of summer and lush crops.
The first sentence of the third stanza darkens this tone even more. The speaker wonders “Where are the songs of spring?” as the season is changing. Nevertheless, the speaker is an optimist and says “thou has thy music too”, suggesting that even autumn, perhaps, is not the worst thing to occur to him. The following lines are descriptions of the fall setting: there are still “stubble-plains with rosy hue” “sallows, born aloft” and “full grown lambs”. Although the lambs are full-grown and the gnats mourn, the creatures are still present on earth. This brings forth a resolution of this dilemma where the ending of a season signifies a kind of death. The resolution is that fall, too, has music as the lambs bleat, “Hedge-crickets sing”, and “The red-breast whistles”. Nature doesn’t die as the seasons change. Nature’s song is a testament to its resilient, adaptive essence that the speaker learns from.
Hi Ayesha! Upon reading your poem “To Autumn” by John Keats, it took me a while to understand the meaning behind it because it was pretty long and used really old language. From what I know, John Keats is a pretty old poet and his poem reads almost like a Shakespeare play because of all of the old diction like “hath,” “thee,” “thy,” and “thou.” Your analysis gave me a lot of insight into the topic of harvesting and the seasons. You focused a lot on Keats’ diction and the context that you bring in about harvesting crops and farming really rounded out the meaning for me. Specifically, I loved how you analyzed that the shift in tone in the second stanza represented the finality of the season. I noticed that your analysis and explication focuses a lot on words, shifts in stanzas, and tone which add a lot to the deeper meaning of harvests, seasons, and nature as you mentioned. I would have loved to see more connection between the structure of Keats’ writing. I noticed while reading that each stanza had an alternating indent with even a waterfall-like indent at the end. Do you think there is a specific reason for that? How does it align with the meaning and analysis of the poem? Diving into the structure of the poem would have added another layer to your analysis, but overall, good job on your essay!
Hey Ayesha! Upon my first read of “To Autumn”, I was rather stunned by all the imagery that, in my opinion, didn’t seem to fit together immediately. However, reading your analysis definitely cleared up the poem’s content. Your observations of Keats’ emphasis on nature helped kick off my understanding. And while I agree that the first stanza described the natural scenery as if the environment did not foresee the end of summer, do you think that there were hints to this ending? For example, Keats writes that summer had overbrimmed, or overflowed, or overstimulated, the bees. Perhaps this shows how nature works intentionally, for there were signs that summer was coming to an end. To be honest, the second stanza lost me as well. Although the title hints at it, I had a hard time narrowing in on who the audience is, as it seems to shift throughout. As you noted, the author writes to an individual that seems like a farmer/harvester, that could in fact act as a symbol for autumn. More importantly though, I loved your analysis of the tone and mood of the dynamic poem. Transitioning to the third stanza, Keats certainly writes with a less bright style, pointing to the dullness that comes with the fall, especially in contrast with the vibrant music of the spring. I think your conclusion is great, that the poem is less about autumn but more about nature’s behavior as a whole, having unique “personalities” throughout the four seasons.
Hi Ayesha! Firstly your essay was fantastic, I thoroughly enjoyed being transported into the world of John Keats. I like reading about how the seasons are used so much in poetry to symbolize different things. Specifically, spring being used as a rebirth of sorts, however I hadn’t gotten the chance to read how fall is used with death. Overall great blog!
Hi Ayesha? Hi Ayesha. Hi Ayesha! When I first read your poem, “To Autumn,” I didn’t know what to think. At first, the imagery used did not really connect for me and the language was a bit difficult for me to comprehend because of how old it is. It took me a few times of reading it over to somewhat understand it, but reading your essay definitely cleared up any misunderstandings I had. I agree with your statement that Keats is saying that nature doesn’t die as the seasons change; rather, it adapts and makes a new “song” for all to hear. Well done interpreting it, your ideas really helped me fully understand this poem!
Hey Ayesha,
I got stuck on the first look of this poem because of the old English, but I was still able to grasp a sense that Keats is correlating mortality to the detailed description of fall. I’m glad that you picked up on the words and phrases and started your analysis from there, and I was able to deepen my understanding from your observations. Great job with the analysis!
Whenever I read old English I either get exhausted or fascinated. Readng this, I was more frustrated than anything, mainly because I’m tired. Your analysis, though, has almost enlightenemed me in a way. I re-read the poem after reading what you had to say, and was fascinated at the art within the words. Thank you, great job!!