2.3 To Autumn Flashcards
Introduction
“To Autumn”- John Keats explores beauty of Autumn as the peak of the natural cycle
Structure, word choice, sound and imagery highlight peaceful element of nature
Depicts Autumn as pinnacle season, nature at its most potent
Paragraph 1
Vivid imagery + evocative use of sound, shows Autumn as moment of perfection
Sound shows hazy warmth of Summer: “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”. Alliteration “m” sound + sibilance “s” sound, emphasises heat and mist from haze. Soporific effect creates relaxing mood.
Sound and word choice emphasises ripeness of Autumn: assonance- long vowel sounds show fullness of fruits. Growth at its peak: “swell the gourd”, “set budding more”, “plump the hazel shells”. Alliteration stresses impression of natures produce in its pinnacle: “fill all fruit with ripeness to the core”
Personification of bees adds to potency of Autumn. Bees overwhelmed by Autumn that “they think warm days will never cease”. Consonance evokes sound of bees at work: “For Summer has o’erbrimmed their clammy cells”. Repeated bilabial nasal sound reminds us of the sounds of bees in the natural world
Rhythm of iambic pentameter used and is extended at key moments. Final line has extra syllable suggesting honey cells are overflowing. Reflects on central theme: abundance of nature in Autumn can’t be contained
Paragraph 2
Focuses on Autumn as a moment of perfection
Personification highlights moment between ripeness and decay: Thresher whose hair is “soft-lifted by the winnowing wind” a moment of perfect balance.
A reaper, contrasting with “grim reaper” who represents death, but In this moment, Autumn overpowers and suspends its activity as it lies by “a half-reaped furrow sound asleep”
A gleaner in the moment of balance: “steady thy laden head across brook”
Final two lines use caesura to show balance of natural beauty and decay:
“Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours” suggests suspension of time as he revels in the perfect moment
Autumn lies next to a cider press after a long day’s work. Time stretches- assonance, long vowel sounds suggest hot day: “Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours”. He wants this moment to last forever as he revels in the joy of Autumn.
Paragraph 3
Mood of the poem darkens as he introduces the threat of Winter arriving
Images of death drawn from natural world. While mood of celebration and joy created in previous stanzas, he realises nature has a darker side which death is part of.
Suggests natural world is in tune with these feelings: “in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn”. Refers to smallest living creature, shows how fragile their lives, similar to fragility of Autumn’s perfection. Choir is part of a soundscape which evoking idea of nature showing grief as Autumn comes to a close: we also have “full-grown lambs loud bleat”, “Hedge-crickets sing”, “treble soft” whistle of robin redbreast and swallows who “twitter in the skies”.
Ironic reference to lambs who “loud bleat”. They are lamenting for Autumn ending as well as suggesting they have reached the end of their brief lives to be slaughtered. Image of death creates sombre mood and sense of loss.
Mention of “red-breast whistles” is a reference to the Robin to signify it as traditional bird of Winter.
Contrast in sound signifies change: long vowel sounds in previous stanzas replaced by short vowel sounds here. Assonance “twitter”, “hilly”, “hedge crickets” suggests days have shortened like the sounds in the words.
Variation in iambic pentameter used again offering hope: “And gathering swallows twitter in the skies” mirroring final line of stanza one. Both contain extra syllable and depict sounds and power of natural world which can’t be contained or escapes into sky.
Conclusion
Effective use of techniques such as sound and imagery help show natural world at best in autumnal months.
Change of mood in final stanza shows effect of Autumn ending making us miss being in perfect moment of natural cycle.
Makes us reflect to value beauty of nature in its peak and shows our strong relationship we have with Autumn.
