âTo Autumnâ by John Keats

- Pages: 4
- Word count: 846
- Category: Keats
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Order NowBoth âTo Autumnâ and âAmenâ use natural imagery to represent the poetsâ sensibility: for Keats it is the remarkable description of the harvest season that signifies a woman who cannot recognize her own individual worth and for Rossetti it is the cycle of seasons used to represent a process of reflection and getting beyond the problem. Both poems use nature as a symbol to mark the end of life; the season coming to an end characterizes a natural cycle. Keats does this by using active and passive vocabulary in the last stanza, such as âThen in wailful choir the small gnats mournâ in contrast to âHedge â crickets sing, and now with treble soft.â Keats is sending the message that even at the end of life; we should not give up on living. This is similar to âAmenâ which, in the last stanza looks towards the future. However, Rossetti shows this in the form of the poem. She extends the last stanza by two lines to emphasise the anticipation of summer. Spring is portrayed as a joyful time, and is the place where most positivity takes place in the poem.
This extension of two lines in âAmenâ also connotes the theme of over-abundance with the definition of âteemâ in the last line meaning âfullâ. Even so, these last two lines signify addition and emphasize overflow, which accentuates getting beyond the problem. This represents Rossettiâs feelings of conquering her depressive faze and finally understanding that the future can be better. Keats also includes the theme of over-abundance at the end of the first stanza, âwarm days will never ceaseâ gives the reader an indication of summer never ending and therefore, overflowing into autumn. This description of a season swarming into another reasonably challenges Keatsâ feelings of bringing everything to an end. Keats had tuberculosis for a long period of his life and knew that he was going to die; another interpretation of âTo Autumnâ is one of death. Nevertheless, he talks about how âwarm days will never ceaseâ emphasising continuity and perpetuity.
Like âTo Autumnâ, âAmenâ attempts to cope with the end of life (or the poem can be interpreted as the end of love). Where Keatsâ poem can be interpreted as a description of autumn or a metaphor of his deeper feelings, Rossettiâs poem is clearly using autumn to epitomize her emotional state and for that reason, does not develop an optimistic tone. However, her poem has a tone of uncertainty, which is emphasised by the series of rhetorical questions that not only engage the reader but also weaken the readerâs understanding of the encounter that has put her into this depressive state. Rossetti continues the theme of ending by using imagery such as, âNow the wheat is garnered dulyâ but also uses nature to express her feelings about the âHarvest days we toiled to sow forâ.
In âTo Autumnâ, autumn is personified as a young and beautiful woman or goddess who is often seen sitting on âa granary floorâ or sleeping on âa half-reaped furrowâ. She represents the beauty that is being celebrated by the speaker in the poem who still enjoys what the warmth of autumn has provided for him even though winter is impending. Keatsâ Horatian ode accepts the natural world, with its mixture of âripenessâ, fulfilment, âfruitfulnessâ and death. Each stanza incorporates suggestions of its opposite or its predecessors, for they are innate in autumn. Yet, the description of the poem is not affected by all of these explorative suggestions.
Both poets use rhetorical questions at the beginning of stanzas. Whereas Rossettiâs suggest uncertainty and personal reflection, Keats rhetorical questions are sarcastic. Nonetheless, both poets use rhetorical questions to engage and absorb the reader into a deeper understanding of the poem. Rossetti uses stanza length to communicate the change in her attitude to the difficulties in life. Adding two lines to the final stanza signifies Rossettiâs transformation from her state of austerity in the first two stanzas to her newfound optimism in words and phrases such as, â sun shine brightlyâ, âbloomâ and âRosesâ. âTo Autumnâ uses alliteration for instance, âmists and mellowâ and âwinnowing windâ which adds an extra syllable onto the fourth line in the second stanza and is onomatopoeic.
These uses of alliteration engage the reader and also include all of the readerâs senses within the poem. The imagery captivates a readerâs mind; therefore they are seeing the image in their head. The onomatopoeia and alliteration enthrals a readerâs hearing and the vivid description of the season has the same effect on the sense of touch and feeling.
To connect the last two lines to the rest of the last stanza, Rossetti uses the word âAndâ which signifies addition and consequently, addition. This emphasises her want for a average and natural life in which she feels positive and joyful whereas the last line in âTo Autumnâ, âAnd gathering swallows twitter in the skiesâ is an understated sense of predictable loss which makes it an accepted summation of the entire human condition.