Restless

English 275

13 October 2016

Explication of “To Autumn” by John Keats

The poem “To Autumn” by John Keats is an ode to Autumn. The primary themes are appreciating the warmth and serenity of autumn, and embracing the change autumn obliges, as opposed to acknowledging autumn as a season of ending or death. In this way, the speaker of “To Autumn” is challenging these traditional symbols of autumn, which have negative connotations, and replacing those symbols with hope and beauty. The speaker uses all five senses to explore the often unappreciated moments of autumn’s beauty, such as the sound of the “full-grown lambs loud bleat” (Line 30) and the taste of the “last oozings” (22) of the cider press.

The speaker of “To Autumn” uses figures of speech in his demonstration of autumn’s beauty. A prominent figure of speech used is personification; specifically, the personification of autumn. Each stanza is filled to the brim with characteristics of autumn, similarly to the way the “o’er-brimmed… clammy cells” (11) of the beehives are dripping with honey. Autumn is described as a “Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; / Conspiring with him how to load and bless / With fruit the vines…” (2-4). Here, autumn is described as best friends with the sun, helping the sun ripen the fruit vines. Another example of autumn being personified is in the second stanza, when autumn is described as “…sitting carelessly on a granary floor, / Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind,” (12-13). The speaker is exploring the idea of autumn as a person, and demonstrating the soft, warm characteristics it would have.

The language used when describing autumn is soft and warm. The opening line, for example, describes autumn as the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” (1). The word “fruitfulness” gives the reader an image of a sweet, ripened harvest; it has finally come when we can reap the productivity of summer and autumn’s friendship. The word “mellow,” while meaning soft and sweet and often used to describe fruit, is also slang for an intimate friend or lover. The reader is introduced to autumn as soft, warm, and friendly, and this image is repeated throughout the poem. In the second stanza, the speaker describes autumn as “Drowsed with the fume of poppies…” (17), which appeals to the reader’s sense of sight and smell. Here, autumn is enveloped by warm color, illuminating its beauty with the pleasant scent of poppies. In the third stanza, the intermittent clouds “touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue” (26), referring back to the warmth and beauty of autumn. While traditional symbols of autumn include death, desolation, and preparing for a bitter cold, the speaker in “To Autumn” challenges those symbols by demonstrating the warmth and friendliness of autumn.

“To Autumn” has the form of an ode, as established by its elevated style, meditative nature, and formal structure. The poem’s meter is generally iambic pentameter, with a formal end rhyme structure of abab cdedcce for the first stanza, and abab cdecdde for the final two stanzas. This structure supports the formality and elevated style of an ode, and the beauty of the formal structure reflects the beauty of the formality of change during autumn. Throughout the poem, assonance is used as aural patterning, with the open vowel sounds setting a tone of openness. Several examples of the assonance in “To Autumn” are the lines “Steady thy laden head…” (20), “…as the light wind lives or dies;” (31), and “…touch the stubble-plains…” (26). The speaker uses this sound device to set a tone of open friendliness to the reader.

“To Autumn” is written in three stanzas, with each stanza being sectioned off by roman numerals. Because of this, it is clear that each stanza demonstrates its own lyrical theme. The first stanza discusses autumn’s relationship with summer, such as the “fruit with ripeness” (6), and “later flowers” for the bees (9). The second stanza speaks directly of the change of autumn; of “half-reaped furrow[s]” (16), and the way its “hook / Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:” (17-18). Finally, the third stanza is where the poem turns. It begins with a rhetorical question: “Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?” (23). The cheerful energy of spring and summer must end; it is the fate of nature. The speaker struggles with this fate; however, the next line proclaims, “Think not of them, thou hast thy music too—” (24). While the energy of summer is mourned by all creatures, even the “small gnats” (27), there is still beauty to be found in the warmth of autumn. As a final effort to demonstrate this beauty, the poem ends with the sounds of autumn:

And full-grown lambs 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. (30-34)

In this serene moment of autumn, the speaker describes not scenes of desolation and bitterness; instead, they are sounds and sights of gentle life. While the lambs are “full-grown” (30), their bleating is the same as it would be in the spring.

The themes in the ode “To Autumn” are the warmth and beauty of autumn, and embracing those characteristics as opposed to the traditional autumnal symbols of desolation and death. This poem is beautiful in its imagery, and simplistic in its language. It uses several poetic elements and devices, such as personification and assonance to demonstrate autumn’s beauty in the most poignant way. It has an elevated style of three stanzas with the turn being in the third stanza, and has formal end rhyming structure spoken in iambic pentameter. The quiet scenes describing autumn are soft and warm, and convey a sense of hope, in contrast to traditional symbols of death. “To Autumn” demonstrates the beauty of autumn, which is a beauty formerly often overlooked.

Works Cited

Keats, John. “To Autumn.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Kelly J. Mays, Norton, 

2014, pp. 695-696.