To Autumn John Keats By Peter Moon 8E Ω

Picture of John Keats sitting outside, in Autumn.

Introduction The Poem I have chosen is “To Autumn” by John Keats. I have specifically chose this poem because it was by John Keats, who is a cousin of John Donne who is my favorite poet. In my Keynote presentation, I will include brief information about the poet, seven literary devices I have chosen to explain, the significance of each stanza, and overall my interpretation of the poem. I hope you enjoy!

“To Autumn” (Part 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,         5   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,         10     For Summer has o’er-brimm’d (Over the Brim) their clammy cells.

“To Autumn” Part 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;         15 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;         20   Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,     Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

“To Autumn” Part 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,         25   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;         30   Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft   The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;     And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

John Keats Life Entire family was plagued by TB (Tuberculosis), wiping out all the family members except for John Keat. Love was both a success/failure. His last wish was to be buried under a tombstone that said “One Whos Name was writ in Water.”

John Keats Life Continued The success of his career was as successful as his personal life. John Keats is considered one of the more famous poets who lived a short but a remarkable life. Legend says, he wrote “To Autumn” after being driven outside the house because of a girl playing violin upstairs. Also, cousin of John Donne.

Literary device#1 Imagery “ And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;”- Imagery This sentence helps us imagine the fruits texture, color, and most importantly, its taste. It carries the reader into a pathless imagination. “ And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.” This sentence inputs an image of a substantial number of swallows soaring in the sky, twittering as they fly along.

Literary Device#2 Alliteration   “Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—” Here, an alliteration is very vividly displayed. The repetition of the consonant “T” is shown in the following words: Think them, thou, and thy.”

Literary Device#3 Metaphor “Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn.” Here the metaphor compares the “wailful choir” and the “small gnats that mourn.” Although gnats may express mourn in their own distinctive way, they can not physically form a choir to utter their mourn.

Literary Device #4 Rhyme “Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft” “The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft.” In these two lines, the word soft and croft are “masculine rhymes (stress final syllable of word).” “And still more, later flowers for the bees,” “Until they think warm days will never cease.” “Steady thy laden head across a brook” “Or by a cyder-press, with patient look.” (Masculine rhyme)

Literary device#5 Simile “Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;” The two components that are being compared are “sinking” and “light wind that lives or dies.”

Literary Device#6 Symbolism “Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;” Here the “Sun,” has both the physical, and psychological sense of the sun.

Literary Device#7 Personification In the poem, “Autumn” is personified into an actual human. Autumn conspires with the Sun, and it is even given physical features such as “ Thy hair soft- lifted by the winnowing wind;” From my interpretation, I believe that Autumn is feminine, because of the delicacy, and softness of the its hair.

Tone of Poem The tone of poem differs in all three stanzas. First Stanza: Tone is very refreshing, happy, lively. Second Stanza: Tone is very motherly like. Third Stanza: Very miserable, despairing, and unfortunate.

Words of Significance in Poem Stanza#1 “ Conspiring with him how to load and bless.” In this sentence, the “him” represents a season, and the thing that is conspiring with the season is the sun. Keats changes the point of view of the story, simply by adding a line that has two different meanings. To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

Words of Significance in Poem Stanza#2 “ Or by a cyder-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.” This creates a sensation of Autumn watching the crops growing, and being harvested. From the way Keats describes Autumn, Autumn sounds like a very tender, and caring season.

Words of Significance in Poem Stanza#3 “And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;” These lambs were first born in Spring, and are being slaughtered in Autumn, which is why the lambs are bleating. “Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn.” In the third stanza, Autumn is slowly dying out. The gnats are mourning because the season of “blessing” has ended.

Theme of Poem 1st and 2nd Stanza “To Autumn,” is a poem that includes two features which are: Inconvenience, Blessing. In the first and second stanza, Autumn and the Sun are like the parents of fruits, trees, and nuts. They bless them by “And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;” Autumn also watches her offsprings of fruits, trees, nuts, being harvested.  “Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.”

Theme of Poem 3rd Stanza However, in the 3rd Stanza, Autumn slowly begins to fade away as the “ While barred clouds bloom the soft- dying day.” As autumn dies, gnats mourn, and Hedge crickets sing triple soft.

To Autumn The reason why Keats wrote this poem probably wasn’t to inspire the reader with such emotion, so that they would choose autumn as their favorite season. Keats simply wanted to express the beauty of autumn. Autumn is when fruits become abundant, leaves start to pick up beautiful hues, and a time of preparation.

Ending! I hope you enjoyed my presentation! Keats was one of the more famous poets that gained fame despite his young age. “To Autumn,” is a beautifully written poem that is rich with imagery. After reading this poem, I have chosen Autumn as my favorite season! To wrap it up I would like to say, that if you want a copy of the love letter to Fanny, URL is: http://englishhistory.net/keats/letters/brawne13Octob er1819.html

Bibliography (MLA Citation) "John Keats." John Keats. 3 September 2008. Wikipedia. 7 Jan 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats>. "To Autumn." To Autumn. 2 January 2009. Wikipedia. 13 Jan 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Autumn>. "To Autumn." To Autumn. 25, January, 2003. 14 Jan 2009 <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/autumn.html#III>. Macie. "Welcome to Autumn, Pavement Poems #2." Pavement ponderings: Welcome to Autumn, Pavement Poems #2. 14 Jan 2009 <http://www.pavementponderings.com/2008/09/welcome-to-autumn-pavement-poems- 2.html

Bibliography (MLA Citation) Wolf, Kevin. "Kevin Wolf." Kevin Wolf. 18 Jan 2009 <http://www.kevinwolf.com/?m=200610>. "To Fanny Brawne, 13 October 1819." John Keats: Letters: To Fanny Brawne, 13 October 1819. 14 Jan 2009 <http://englishhistory.net/keats/letters/brawne13October1819.html>. "The Poetry of John Keats." The Poetry of John Keats- Poet Seers. 18 Jan 2009 <http://www.poetseers.org/the_romantics/john_keats/the_poetry_of_john_keats>.