To Autumn 1. 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? 2 . 　 　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-reaped furrow sound asleep, 　 　   Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook 　      Spares the next swath and all its twinéd 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? 3. 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.

Stanza 1 Autumn: a season of harvest; fruiting stage Metaphors of the autumn: “close bosom-friend of the maturing sun,” “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” “him”  the sun “bless with fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run ”  bless the vines that run round the thatch-eves with fruit “load and bless”: Autumn and the sun not only load but also bless the vines with fruit. The effects of using the word bless may include autumn’s benediction over the ripening of the fruits and its power to enrich the fertility of nature. “To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees” To bend the moss’d cottage-trees with apples  The apples become so numerous that their weight bends the trees. “to set budding more ”: -ing form suggests activity that is continuing “And still more ” suggests the mushrooming of flowers Use of flashback : line 9 - line 11(cause and effect are reversed)

Stanza 2 Autumn: lax or resting; the stage of slowing down; personification of autumn as a reaper or a harvester “sound asleep,” “Drows'd ”  Autumn is listless and even falls asleep “Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours ”: The end of the cycle is near. The squeezing of the apple cider is nearly finished (“the last oozings”)

Stanza 3 Autumn: Description of the beauty of autumn. Keats blends living and dying, the pleasant and the unpleasant, because they are crucial elements of the mixed nature. Mention of “spring”: 1. representing process; the proceeding flow of time (like the “summer” in stanza 1) 2. Spring is a time of rebirth of life which contrasts with the seemingly dying autumn of stanza 3. “the soft-dying day”: Its dying also creates beauty (as the following lines present) “While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue ”: the setting sun casts a “bloom” of “rosy hue” over the stubble left after the harvest “And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn”: sheep will be slaughtered in autumn (Note: why is Keats using the term “lambs” rather than “sheep”?) “And gathering swallows twitter in the skies”: The swallows are gathering for their winter migration  suggesting that the autumn will cease

We could compare To Autumn with 歐陽修 ’s “秋聲賦,” which describes autumn as a withering season rather than a season of harvest and beauty. But it also has some similarities with To Autumn as in “商，傷也；物既老而悲傷。夷，戮也；物過盛而當殺。 ” which correlate with stanza 3 (ex: “And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn ”)

Images Keats wrote a letter to his friend J. H. Reynolds after he wrote "To Autumn." Even the letter alludes to ancient myths, where Diana (in Roman myth, or Artemis in Greek) is the moon and the goddess of chastity and hunting.

Letter to J. H. Reynolds “How beautiful the season is now -- How fine the air. A temperate sharpness about it. Really, without joking, chaste weather -- Dian skies -- I never lik'd stubble-fields so much as now -- Aye better than the chilly green of the Spring. Somehow a stubble plain looks warm -- in the same way that some pictures look warm -- This struck me so much in my Sunday's walk that I composed upon it. “

Images Keats did not believe in gods and goddesses. He did, however, take a great interest in the poetry of ancient Greece, and "To Autumn" is the sixth in his famous sequence of odes, poems ancient Greeks wrote to the various gods in their polytheistic world. To the Greeks, a god was not a distant, disembodied entity. Thus a god could dwell at the site of a river, for it was the spirit of the river. Even one of the mightiest gods, Apollo, was at some level simply the sun. In "To Autumn," Keats treats autumn as a kind of god or goddess whose presence can be felt in many occurrences of late summer and early fall. “The weather, crops, plants and animals, sounds, even the activities typical of that season” are turned into images of the god's presence.

Images:Stanza 1 The whole stanza is a single phrase that does not form a complete sentence. It addresses Autumn by name, just as a prayer would begin by invoking or naming the god it addresses, but uses a description rather than Autumn's proper name.( e.g. “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,”&“Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun”) Personification

Images:Stanza 1 Besides maturing sun, other words and phrases that suggest maturity  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;  To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

Images:Stanza 1 A repetitive listing of ripening indicates that Keats might designed it on purpose, in order to show the conspiracy between autumn and sun. Autumn and the sun not only load but also bless the vines with fruit.  the effects of using the word bless at the end of the stanza, Autumn and the sun make so many flowers bud late in the season that the bees have become confused (Until they think warm days will never cease, For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.)  suggests unawareness

Images:Stanza 2 “Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?”Keats is stressing that in fact everyone has seen Autumn. “harvested grain, a partially harvested field, apples being pressed to make cider”  All the stanza's images take sights common in the countryside during autumn “sitting careless; sound asleep; Drows'd; keep / Steady; with patient look” the images seem to picture Autumn at rest

Images:Stanza 3 “the soft-dying day,”“mourn,” “sinking,” “dies,” words and phrases that suggest death or dying Indicates that “Autumn is leaving”

Images:Stanza 3 Autumn's music: “Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn” “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”

Images:Stanza 3 connotations of death “And full-grown lambs bleat from hilly bourne;” “Hedge-crickets sing;” “And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.” connotations of death “Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The red-breat whistles from a garden-croft; And gathering swallows twitter in the skies."

Implication of “Autumn” in John Keats’ Romantic poem Alfonso Liu

Autumn with fruitfulness, abundance, and joyfulness hope (sun)

1st stanza—describing the autumn as a fruitful season 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 mossed 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-brimmed their clammy cells.

2nd stanza—Comparing autumn to “someone” (personification) 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-reaped furrow sound asleep, Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twinéd 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.

3rd stanza—Autumn is a symbol of maturity of beings 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.

Winchester College

Comparison & Conclusion Elaine

Personal Questions Which poem do you find easier to read? Which one do you like more? Which topic interests you more: Art or Nature? How are they different? Do you get emotionally involved in the things you like? Do you get emotionally involved in Art and/or Nature? Do you agree that truth and beauty are all you need to know?

Reflective Questions How do the two different openings present the two speakers’ different attitudes and moods? Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, / Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Reflective Questions How does each speaker talk to/about the subject (Art/Nature)? What are their attitudes? Is the speaker in “To Autumn” more respectful and in awe than “Grecian Urn”? How?

Reflective Questions Who drives the story and the action in each poem? Are reality and imagination given the same weights/values in both poems? Are the speakers’ questions resolved in the poems? If not, what are the effects of these unanswered questions?

Odes Lengthy Serious in subject matter Elevated in its word choice and style Elaborate structure in stanzas The Horatian ode - “To Autumn” uniform stanzas same metrical pattern more personal, meditative, & restrained

Structure Grecian Urn --> The timelessness of the urn --> Ideal v.s. Real (canst not leave… nor ever can… never, never…) --> Greater passions depicted on the urn --> Looks at the urn from without; imaginations --> Addresses the urn and speaks to it as an observer --> Conclusion: beauty v.s. truth To Autumn --> Ripeness of the harvest --> Laziness of the Autumn --> Imageries of death and passing.

Tone Grecian Urn Apostrophe - direct address (18) Many questions Theoretical questions and statements What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’ To Autumn Apostrophe - aids in the imagery (8) More descriptions, less questions Retrospective, calm, reflective, unhurried Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, / Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Perspective Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss Grecian Urn Narrator is emotionally involved in the narration There is a constant question on art and life, reality and imagination Speaks to the urn and asks for a response Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss Though winning near the goal -- yet, do not grieve; To Autumn Narrator is less emotionally involved, but is very observant Does not flee from the reality Appreciates Nature as it is Narrator contemplates a lot (speaks to himself) Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? and now with treble soft The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Concluding Questions Are the speakers’ questions resolved in the poems? If not, what are the effects of these unanswered questions? How do the speakers approach the complexities and mysteries of life, art, and nature? Do art and nature really offer us more than our perception of reality? Or are we the ones defining the meaning of art and nature?

Sources Newman Library http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/2000/c_n_c/c_07_romanticism/reading_keats.htm Brooklyn College http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/autumn.html