Ode to Autumn....by John Keats (Analysis)
Ode to Autumn is a poem by
the romantic poet John Keats. This work was composed on 19th September
1819 and published in 1820 in a volume of Keats’ poetry that included Lamia and The Eve of the St. Agnes. It is the final work in a group of poems
known as ‘’Keats’ 1819 odes’’. Moreover he composed this poem after a walk in
Winchester in one autumnal evening. Like others of Keats’s ode ,’’ Ode to
Autumn is a poem of three stanzas,each of eleven lines following the structure
of ‘’Odal hymn’’. The poem is an eloquent expression of the exquisite beauty of
the season Autumn. It is personified as a conspirator and seen as a harvester,
reaper, a gleaner and a cider presser. Above all a deep reflective mood pervades the
poem. The joy of fulfillment & ripeness is mixed with the sadness of decay
and death. Especially the rhythmic quality of the verse contributes to the exquisite
melody of the ode.
‘’Season of mists and mellow
fruitfulness,
Close bosom friend of the
maturing sun,……..’’
The opening line of the poem
“season of mists and mellow fruitfulness “ highlights the theme of the poem ‘ripeness
and maturity of autumn. Autumn is called the bosom friend of the maturing sun. Autumn
and the sun work together as a friend to make the vine heavy with a load of fruits,
to bend the apples, to swell the gourd and plump the hazel shells. Flowers in
autumn still bloom and bees think that the warm days will never end. Particularly,the autumn
is personified as a woman sitting carelessly on a granary floor. Autumn is also
convinced of as a reaper falling asleep on the half reaped furrow with the
scent of poppies. As a gleaner, she crosses the brook making balance of the
load of corn on her head . As cider presser she watches patiently to the last
drop of the cider press. In the evening of the season autumn, the setting sun makes the subtle plain rosy. The small gnats are
seen mourning and the full grown lamb bleats.
Hedge cricket sings. The red breast Robin whistles and the swallows twitter.
‘Ode to Autumn’ is rich in
sensuous images. Some of them are ‘mellow fruitfulness’,’ripeness to the core’,
‘ to swell the gourd and plump the hazel with sweet kernel,’ ‘fume of poppies’,
‘winnowing wind’, last oozing’, ‘rosy hue’, and ‘gnats mourn’ that increases
its level.
‘Ode to Autumn’ is a nature
poem. Keats has employed his five senses to capture the various sights and
sounds of nature in the season of autumn. Like the Greeks, Keats in this poem
accepts the gifts of autumn. His pagan conception of nature is essentially of
Greek classics. Autumn’s personification as harvester is the reminiscence of
Roman goddess of corn. There is also a reference of Greek choir.
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