Portrayal of the Autumn Season in the Poem To Autumn by John Keats

John believed in the beauty of nature and what the human being entails in the world. He lived in London, England during the 16th and 17th Century and wasn’t just an ordinary man but a poet who managed to achieve his goals even though he faced a series of challenges and barriers. John Keats lost his parents at an early age and was forced to stay with his grandmother then went to other guardians. He tackled each and every step of his life and managed to start doing poetry with the help of the grandmother. The poems Kate composed were of different varieties such as odes, sonnets and love poems. Although he only lived until till his 25 years of age he managed to write a sum of 100 poems for the past 5 years he was writing (“Timeline”).

Most of Keat’s writing had the themes of tranquility, peace, love and beauty. One of his best and famous odes, known as “To Autumn” managed to convey the beauty in nature with the illustration of literary elements, these elements were alliteration, imagery and personification. He was one of the poets who lied through these era of love and peace that he demonstrated in his poems. His life was difficult though but he managed to pass those obstacles. He was born on October 31, 1795 In England, his parents were Jennings Kaets ND Thomas Keats (Kissane). John was so close to his parents and fonder of his mother who passed in 1810, he was only 14 years of age by then (History). His Grandmother took him and assigned Richard Abbey and John Sandell as his guardians (Kissane)

The last 5 years of John Kaets life marked a lot in his history, even though he had started pursuing a medical career his change of career meant a lot for him and all the grievances he encountered during his childhood. He managed to write good poetry, fell in love and met some of the world’s greatest poets. In the year 1814, just after John had ended his medical career he managed to get acquainted with some popular poet like Percy B. Shelly, Benjamin Robert and Leigh Hunt (Biography). Leigh is one of the mentors who encouraged him to publish his poems in magazines. He continued writing his sonnets and odes that were still mostly about beauty and nature. He managed to meet a woman named Fanny Brawne and fell in love with her (History).

John is ranked as a romantic poet, this is because he lived around the romantic era. He with other famous poet led and contributed to the development of new romantic meditative ode, the personal ode of description and passionate meditation (“Keats and Romanticism”). “To Autumn” is one of his life’s work that relayed the romantic meditative odes because of how he uses descriptions and passion. He was a man who viewed life differently and would try to take himself out of the real world into an ideal place. He would go away from home and then return back and continue with his writing. This enabled him to make his poems convey different aspect of feelings and views (“To Autumn’ Analysis). The Romantic era showed some similarity but is very different from Classical Era. The Romantic era allows the artist to practice his freedom) The Romantic Era, 1850) John Kates managed to use this opportunity and uses that the freedom to write on whatever he wants. This is evident with his Sonnets and poems.

Analyzing some of his poems, “To Autumn” was written in the year 1820 and displays the beauty of nature and the tranquility through the use of imagery, personification and alliteration. Keat uses the poem to describe autumn as a peaceful and calm season. Which is a symbol of the culmination of life’s process (“Explanation: To Autumn”). “To Autumn” comprises of three- stanza, and it is a short poem which has stanzas with 11 lines (Literary Terms). The poem has a unique rhyme scheme, which is ABABCDCDEEF, it is only in the first stanza so as to enable the reader to identify it. The first stanza is used to describe the final stages of autumn. It has a combination of autumn’s maturity and growth which is an emphasis that autumn won’t come to an end, it will come back again soon. The second stanza however personifies autumn by making it a woman, it shows how the ripening of the autumn will never end. The last stanza finalizes by telling tis readers not to yearn for the spring, but to stay with autumn and enjoy it while there.

Imagery is illustrated more in the first stanza of the “To Autumn” poem. John uses words such as, “Fruitfulness,” which is a direct translation of ripening autumn. The reader will visualize vegetation and tress that have a large variety of produce (Wood). The words like “maturing sun,” and “moss’d cottage-trees,” are a used to describe how the growth of trees progresses during the autumn season. Keat used his freedom well and talent to come up with good visual thoughts. He would pretend to be in a different world just to achieve this. John was a good visual learner which enabled him to use very expensive words. The way he wrote didn’t just make his readers feel like they were told but shown. Line 7 of “To Autumn” states that “To swell the ground, and plump the hazel shells”. The line uses words like “swell” instead of a simple word like grow. This will offer the reader a visualization of how the gourd is growing rather than using small words like just grow. He also uses the word “hazel shells”, this can be replaced by brown shells but his technique of imagery offers a description of shade brown shells.

Alliteration is also a common technique in John’s poems. Alliteration is used in order to indicate the level of importance certain events have (Literary Terms). The first line uses alliteration by stating “seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness.” “Mists and mellow” are an example of alliterations which are also adjective words that describe autumn. The literary device is uses in line 25, which states “While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,” which has 2 different alliteration phrases. Alliteration is very helpful in the poem and it allows for the reader’s attention captured with the use of consistent sounds. Line 30 has alliteration by stating “and full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn.” These is an alliteration technique that doesn’t only describe what the lams are doing but also how they bleat. The words “Lambs loud” have alliteration by sounding the same thus making the reader to visualize.

Personification is also a common technique in John’s work and he uses it to attribute human characteristics. The poem “To Autumn” has a lot of personification in the second stanza. Keat personifies autumn in the poem by referring to it as “thee” in line 12. He continues to refer to autumn as “thee” in line 13 and 14, like “Thee sitting careless of a granary floor.” This is a statement that personifies autumn by implying that autumn has completed harvesting and was now doing nothing. Line 15 however. “Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind” this enables the reader to view autumn as a woman. The wind lifting autumns hair means its lazy or just hanging around (T0 Autumn: Stanza). Line 22 goes ahead to refer to autumn as “thou” by stating “thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours,” John uses personification to explain more about watch, to a season and autumn.

The tactics he implemented were unique and very literary in the use of elements. Keat continued with his pursue of poetry even after undergoing all the hardships in life and losing most of his loved ones. Some of the other works he did were the Ode poems, “Ode to a Nightingale,” and “Ode ton Melancholy.” In “Ode to a Nightingale” he uses imagination to urge his readers to escape pain. The poem expresses the pain in His life and as it comes to an end it indicates that pain is inevitable and should be faced head-on. In “Ode on Mleancholy” Keat uses the poem to tell his readers how to deal with pain and the good things that come with facing pain.

These poems have enabled him to leave a major mark in the poetic industry and also the romantic feeling his poems carry. The poems listed above and much more he has written he has managed to incorporate the themes of what he experience like pain, nature and imagination which has enabled him to create very unique romantic poems. His test and love for poetry grew with him till his death which was very early and he managed to still achieve the most with the 5 years he got to write his known poems. The use of imagery and personification in his poem “To Autumn” is an indication of how talented he was.