To Autumn

Jack Keats

 

1 Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
2 Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
3 Conspiring with him how to load and bless
4 With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
5 To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
6 And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
7 To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
8 With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
9 And still more, later flowers for the bees,
10 Until they think warm days will never cease,
11 For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

12 Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
13 Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
14 Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
15 Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
16 Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
17 Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
18 Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
19 And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
20 Steady thy laden head across a brook;
21 Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
22 Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

23 Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
24 Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
25 While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
26 And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
27 Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
28 Among the river sallows, borne aloft
29 Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
30 And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
31 Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
32 The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
33 And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

 

Create a hypertext of the poem by using the following questions.

  1. An ode has a serious topic. What is the topic of this ode? The topic of this ode is autumn and how it represents things ending, which is symbolic of how his life is coming to an end.
  2. What are the connotations of the word autumn? Autumn is the season in which things are ending and your efforts have paid off. The trees’ leaves are falling off in preparation for winter.
  3. What does autumn symbolize? Autumn symbolizes the preparation for the end of things: Winter = Death
  4. Identify the major metaphorical device used in the poem, and how it is used.
  5. List 5 images and identify the image type.
    1. "Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind." Visual and auditory
    2. "Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn" Auditory
    3. "To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells/With a sweet kernel" Visual and gustatory
    4. "And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue" Visual and tactile
    5. "To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-tree" Visual
  1. What is the tone of the poem? How do the images help create the tone?

    2. The tone of the poem is reflection as the writer uses images to describe death coming and looks back at other seasons of his life. The description of death as "sitting careless on a granary floor/They hair soft-lined by the winnowing wind" and "watching the last oozings hours by hours" showing an acceptance of the coming of death, just as the crops and the seasons come. The writer accepts the seasons of his life by telling the listener not to think of the songs of spring.

  2. List 3 sound devices in the poem. What effect do these devices have upon the reader?

Consonance: "Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom friend of the maturing sun

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

 ."

Assonance: "Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from the garden croft

 "

    1. Alliteration: "Fill all fruit"

"Winnowing wind"

The sound devices help the writer set the mood and continue it through the lines of the poem. The repeated sounds can add to the image that the writer is trying to create.

 

  1. What is the theme of the poem.

The theme of the poem is that we should enjoy the "autumn" of our lives as we prepare for death. It does no good to look back and long for the "spring" when the autumn can be so beautiful.

 

 

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