My Interpretation of Keats'
To Autumn
Jason Chin
January 2002
Ms. Wu
Class N32
Analyzing the First Stanza of the Poem
with Words:
- The
first stanza of “To Autumn”, by John Keats, describes what the season,
autumn is and what it does with nature. Words such as, “swell” and
“plump” are used to describe the effect of autumn on fruits.
2. Images:
- Budding
flowers
- Ripe
fruit
- “moss’d
cottage-trees”
- “vines
that round the thatch-eves run;”
John Keats describes autumn as if it were a person. He tells the audience
how autumn works with the sun to help the fruit grow and ripen. Keats also
describes autumn helping the flowers to grow and flourish until even the bees
believe that autumn days will never end.
3.
The speaker expresses a love for autumn. He forms images in the minds of his
audience when he describes the ripe fruits and the flora.
4.
Reading the first stanza of “To Autumn” produced a feeling of awe within me.
The
images portrayed by the author were so beautiful, that I felt a liking
towards
autumn myself.
5.
Keats makes use of many different literary elements to bring the poem
“Autumn”
to life. One literary element we can find in his
poem is imagery. Imagery is used to
make the audience see the fruits and flowers that
Keats is trying to describe.
"SEASON
of mists"
"mellow fruitfulness"...
..."how
to load and bless /With fruit and vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend
with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,"...
"...fill
all fruit with ripeness to the core"
"To
swell the gourd plump the hazel shells..."
Analyzing the Second Stanza of the
Poem with Words:
1. The second stanza of “To Autumn” uses
personification to give human characteristics to
the season autumn. Keats portrays autumn as a
female, “Drows’d with the fume of
poppies,”.
2. Images:
- Autumn
as a human female.
- “Drows’d
with the fume of poppies”
- “Or
on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep”
- “Thy
hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;”
After reading the second stanza, I could see “autumn” as an actual
person. The physical characteristics of autumn were formed in my mind. Keats’
descriptions created pictures of autumn helping fruits and crops grow and
watching as they are harvested.
3.
The second stanza describes the season, autumn, as an actual person. The speaker
seems to be talking to autumn about how she watches as the fruits and the
crops are
harvested.
4. After reading the second stanza, I was
impressed. Keats was able to turn a season into
an actual person. He was even able to tell the
audience the actions autumn takes.
5. Personification is an obvious literary
element used in the second stanza of “To Autumn”.
Autumn is brought to life as a person by giving the
season human characteristics and
even physical features.
Analyzing the Third Stanza of the Poem
with Words:
1. The third stanza describes the sounds of
autumn. The noises created by the animals are
compared to music. The line “Hedge-crickets sing;
and now with treble soft” is an
example of how the noise a cricket makes is compared to a song.
2.
Images:
- “While
barren clouds bloom the soft-dying day”
- “And
touch the stubble plains with rosy hue”
- “river
sallows”
- “And
gathering swallows twitter in the skies.”
The third stanza forms pictures of the sky and the earth during the
autumn season. Even the animals of autumn were described in the third stanza of
the poem. Keats tells the audience of the lambs which bleat and the crickets
that sing.
3. In this third stanza, the speaker
addresses the season autumn. He tells her of the sounds
that are made during autumn. Again, we see the
speaker expressing love for this season
by describing the sounds that autumn is surrounded by.
4. While I was reading the third stanza of
the poem, I felt as if I was totally immersed in
the descriptions
told by Keats. The first and second stanzas allowed me to see the colors of
autumn and even see autumn herself. The third stanza gave me the sounds that
autumn creates.
5. Metaphors are used in the third stanza to
compare the sounds made in autumn to
music. A quote from the text states,
“Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft”.
Keats compares the noises made by hedge-crickets to
musical notes.
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Final
Interpretation of the Poem To Autumn
Autumn has always been the season of harvest and
life. During this season, we can see the blossoming of flowers and the
ripening of fruit. John Keats describes the beauty of autumn using
various literary elements to illustrate a picture in the mind of his
audience.
The first stanza describes the splendor of
autumn. In the quote, “With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves
run; To bend with apples the " moss’d cottage-trees,” Keats
uses imagery to allow the audience to actually see what he is
describing. We can see the life that autumn brings, helping the fruits
to grow so that they bend the branches of the trees.
Personification is used in the second
stanza to bring the season, autumn, to life. Keats describes the
physical characteristics of autumn in the line, “Thy hair soft-lined
by the winnowing wind;”. He even tells the audience how she lies on a
“half-reap’d furrow sound asleep”.
The sounds of autumn are compared to music
in the last stanza of “To Autumn”. A quote from the text compares
the sounds made by hedge-crickets to musical notes. “Hedge-crickets
sing; and now with treble soft” In this quote, Keats uses metaphors to
show how the sounds created by autumn are musical.
“To Autumn”, by John Keats, describes
the beauty and life that is associated with the season, autumn. He used
various literary elements to convey his view of autumn. Keats was able
to capture the essence of autumn in his poem and share it with his
audience.
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on the thumbnails to see the full-size image:
 
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