Keats's poem, “To Autumn,” was written about 19 September 1819, and is one of his best-known and best-loved poems. It is
addressed throughout to a personified "Autumn" and in many ways is a valedictory poem which presents the fruitfulness of
autumn and signals the approaching winter. It presents a vision of humanity working in close harmony with the natural processes
of nature. (NOTE: Your IOC extract will not have this kind of information; but because we have not studied this author or poem, it
is included here.)
“To Autumn”
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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-eaves 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'erbrimm'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 cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Aye, where are they?
Think not of them, - thou hast thy music too,
While barrèd 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 redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
John Keats
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What is your response to the opening stanza of the poem?
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How does Keats use imagery in the poem? What effects does this create?
Transcript from a student's oral commentary for “To Autumn”
I feel that the first line of the poem immediately captures a sense of the essence of autumn combining the
characteristics of "mists" and "mellow fruitfulness". The second line links the season to the sun - a "maturing"
sun in the sense that the natural cycle of the year has reached its maturity. It also introduces the idea of the sun
being an essential component of the natural process in bringing the fruits of autumn to ripeness and fruition. In
this first stanza autumn is characterized by a strong reproductive force which is traditionally represented as
female (in mythology, Ceres, the goddess of corn and the harvest). Just as the earth is generically female (hence
phrases like "Mother Earth"), the sun is traditionally characterized as male (as in the god Apollo) and the two
together produce the rich fruits of autumn. Keats describes this union as "conspiring" (line 3) which gives the
impression of the two secretly and mysteriously working together to produce, almost as if by magic, the
bounties of autumn. The poem is rich in imagery and here Keats uses it to create a sense of the bounty produced
by this union, as in lines 5-11.
The first image in stanza 2 personifies autumn as being "amid thy store" cleaning the grain of chaff - one of the
routine tasks following the harvest called "winnowing" - hence Keats's reference to the "winnowing wind" (line
15). I feel that this again has feminine connotations, created by the reference to "Thy hair soft-lifted" (line 15).
He follows this with a second image, this time of the field worker asleep on a "half-reap'd furrow". The reference
to "Drows'd with the fume of poppies" suggests not only sleep but a sleep that is drug-induced and therefore a
state of heightened subconscious awareness. The worker's scythe is suspended, sparing the "next swath and all
its twined flowers" (line 18).
A third image Keats uses here creates a picture of a gleaner carrying a head of corn across a brook. The "laden
head" (line 20) creates the sense of plenty.
A final image in this stanza gives me a picture of a worker at the cider-press crushing the juice from the apples to
make cider. This image reminds me of the richness of the apple harvest, which was created in stanza 1.
These images together present a series of mental pictures which capture some of the activities that typify
autumn and the harvest. As well as reinforcing the impression of abundance, they also suggest a sense of
progression - the reaper cuts the crop, the gleaner gathers it after the reaper, the winnower winnows it. The
crushing of the apples marks a stage of progression from apple to cider. Each of these activities, then, brings us
closer to the end of nature's annual cycle of life and prepares us for the final stanza.
In the final stanza Keats unites his images and the experiences of the first two stanzas. It presents an acceptance
of autumn's passing, with its suggestion of death and the impending winter. However, the opening question with
its reference to spring has a consoling effect in that it reminds us not only that the "songs of Spring" (line 23)
have passed and winter is approaching, but that spring will come again too. The poet consoles himself also with
the idea that although autumn signals the approaching end of the natural cycle, it too has its own beauty. The
compensation for the loss of the "songs of Spring" lies in the beauty of natural maturity and it is this that the
poem celebrates. There are compensations in that although autumn has no "songs" it has its own "music". There
is a melancholy in this music, though: "in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn" (line 27) and the "full-grown
lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn" (line 30). On the other hand the "Hedge-crickets sing" (line 31) and the
"redbreast whistles" (line 32) while the swallows "twitter in the skies" as they prepare to migrate for the winter;
like autumn, their stay is nearing its end. The ending of the poem, however, does not strike me as depressing but
rather has a sense of optimism. I think that Keats is pointing here to the natural cycle, and although autumn is at
an end and winter is drawing close, that too in its turn will be followed by another spring and another summer.
In that sense I think that this poem not only celebrates the end of the natural year but also looks forward to
celebrating the start of a new one.