To Autumn Flashcards
(27 cards)
what does the title suggest
that the poem is to a person, autumn is personified
summer is the season of provision
season of… mellow fruitfulness
Summer is ending, autumn is a close friend of summer
close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
autumn and summer work together to provide, summer is masculine
conspiring with him how to load and bless
the trees can’t hold the fruit
To bend with apples
2 examples of how plentiful summer causes autumn to be
swell the gourd… plump the hazel shells
plenty goes on from summer well into autumn
more, later flowers for the bees
summer goes on and on and on with its fruitfulness
Summer has o’erbrimm’d
rhetorical question used to make a reader question their experience of autumn
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
the personified ‘Autumn’ is relaxed on a floor of plenty
careless on a granary floor
hair of ‘Autumn’ described. winnowing chosen as it is in a semantic field of harvest
hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind
Autumn is more relaxing and almost sedative as referred to by this opium reference
fume of poppies
time phrase used to emphasise how the poem represents the movement of time
oozing hours by hours
narrator wants spring to come, they are looking to the future, perhaps reflects how the poet knew he was going to die and it reflects heaven
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay where are they?
poet doesn’t want to think about spring as autumn is good too, perhaps due to the poet not wanting to dwell on death
think not of them, thou hast music too
literally the day is coming to night but is in the semantic field of death
soft-dying day
the sunset is beautiful when you get there, life has been harvested hence the state of the crops
stubble plain with rosy hue
more language surrounding death, the gnats do this to show the close of the day and it is perhaps a metaphor for death
wailful choir…mourn
even further language of death, perhaps life is compared to the wind as it is so temporary
light wind lives or dies
vivid sensory imagery of the various animals. this shows the plentiful nature of the poem
lambs loud bleat
crickets sing
red-breast whsitles
shows winter is onset, time passes on
gathering swallows twitter
what is the form
ode
what is special about this poem’s form
it has an extra line in each stanza than a normal Ode showing it is overflowing
when did the poet die
when he was very young
