1. To Autumn
Keats
ADVANCED HIGHER

2. Overall structure
An ode is a poem addressed to an inanimate object, idea, animal or, occasionally, dead person.
Three stanzas of 11 lines. Each stanza begins with four lines which introduces the topic of the stanza. The next 7 lines expand on the topic.
Quatrain – 4 lines, often linked by rhyme
Couplet – 2 lines
Sestet – 6 lines

3. First stanza First stanza Celebration of plenty and “ripeness”.
The world of men is connected to Nature: “the vines that round the thatch-eaves run”
Autumn is personified as a goddess, “conspiring” with the sun how to produce fruit
Celebration of plenty – “fruitfulness”
All one sentence, emphasising the sheer amount of fruit and life
Still warm – “clammy cells.”
Enjambment in lines 3-4 and lines 7-8 suggests that the abundance is spilling over
Repetition of “to load…to bend…to swell…”
Autumn is personified, actively bringing about the harvest

4. Second stanza Harvest Line 12 – question, address to “thee”
This is when man working with Nature, reaping its benefits
Autumn is personified further with “hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind.”
It is time for Autumn to rest: “sitting careless”
And wait: “Thou watchest”
While men work
“Spring” seems distant – Autumn as peaceful? Quiet? Less celebrated?

5. Third Stanza Music is a symbol for the harmony of Nature
“thou hast thy music too”
The poem now discusses wild nature: “gnats…hedge-crickets”
The sun is setting – “the soft-dying day”
But still Keats celebrates its beauty: “rosy hue”
A note of sadness enters (27) – “wailful choir…gnats mourn.”
Even ‘gnats’ add to the music, moving in harmony with the wind
Life and music remain: “sing… whistles … twitter in the skies.”
But this is banished by the music of the final four lines.
The final line addresses Autumn directly, making clear that she should not be jealous of spring.

6. Overall The poem is a celebration: of a less appreciated season
of enjoying the moment
of Nature
of music
By a poet who was very aware of mortality