In “Ode to Autumn,” what is the State of Mind of the Poet?
The theme of the Romantic Period is nature; John Keats is one of the famous poets of this era. In his poem “Ode to Autumn” that has appeared in more anthology than any of his other poems; he uses imagery, word choice, and structure to express the speaker’s state of mind.
“Ode to Autumn” is Keats’ last ode. He wrote it after an autumn’s Sunday evening walk while he was staying in Winchester. “He was alone at Winchester, rejoicing in perfect September weather and in a mood more serene and contented than he had known for long or was ever to know again.” He wrote to his friend, Reynolds, “This struck me so much in my Sunday's walk that I composed upon it.”( Colvin 1917). The speaker in this poem is obviously in a luxuriant and peaceful mood. Considering the other odes where Keats expresses melancholy and sadness, this is a jubilant poem. Most of his other odes speak of his imminent death and even though autumn could be seen as a period dying; the speaker finds it a time most enjoyable.
Keats begins the poem “Season of mist” would be a fair description of an autumn evening in Winchester, considering the geographic location. However, one has to decide what does he mean by “mellow fruitfulness,” is he suggesting a good harvest or is it the display of autumn? Autumn is beautiful and its display of colors is panoramic. In the second line there is no guessing the introduction of figurative language, he personifies autumn. Autumn takes on human conditions; it is the best friend of the maturing sun. There is a bit of ambiguity in the sun’s description. it could be an animate growth to full statue or it could be as a fruit or vegetable that is ready for consumption. The speaker has to be describing the harvest because in the evening the sun is not in its maturity.
A farmer will agree that too much rain, too much sun, or too little of each will not produce a good crop. Therefore the speaker gives a harmonious relationship to the sun and autumn; it is the picture of two best friends working together to produce something beautiful. Autumn and the sun, best friends, together they have presented an abundant harvest. “Conspiring with him how to load and bless.” (line 3) The speaker continues throughout the rest of this stanza to illustrate in graphic language and imagery the crop of this particular autumn. Anyone who has seen a vineyard can visualize the grapes hanging from the trees seemingly like a covered tunnel, giving the image of ”the thatch- caves run..” Just the same one sees“moss’d cottage-trees”— apple trees forming roof with its laden branches.
Keats likes to appeal to the senses; he dedicates lines six through eleven to depict the fullness of the fruits and their sweetness. Usually when ripen fruits are not picked they fall to the ground; and more often than not seeds from the core generate new plant after they have rot. . Some trees do not produce new growth through their fruit but they simmer throughout winter and come spring time they make new shoots. The speaker is making the reader think; he makes connotations, like he does in lines nine and ten; “And still more, little flowers for the bees,/ Until they think warm days will never cease.” Meaning that the seasons have gone through autumn, winter, spring, and now the crops wait for autumn again.
As the produce moves from the field to the store it waits on a granary/warehouse floor to have the good separated from the bad. The crop is harvested and again autumn ts personified.. Autumn is now a female who is worn out by the labor of the harvest; she is over-come with the “fume of poppies.” Autumn is given all the characteristics of a woman who has gone through the whole reproductive process and is at a place where she can view her offspring. She is proud of her reproduction and she views it with pride. “Steady thy laden head across a brook;/Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,/ thou watches the last oozing, hours by hours” (lines 20-22). She is also drunk with over-work from the harvest, like a woman after delivery, tied but satisfied.
In the last stanza Keats compares the sound of autumn of with the sounds of spring. In the first stanza autumn is the dying sun—sunset; now the sounds of autumn are liken to the sounds spring as the day is dying. “Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?/ Think not of them, thou hast thy music too.-/ While buried clouds bloom the soft dying-day” (lines 23 -25). The sounds of the gnats wailing, and lambs bleating, the river swallows, grass hopper, the red breast whistle, and gathering swallows twitter all come together as the sun goes down to form a “wailing choir”.
The word choice in this poem brings meaning and sensuality to it. The poem consists of three stanzas, and even though the poem is describing autumn, three different phases of autumn are represented. Each stanza blends together to show the cycle of life and to show autumn as a happy time. In the first line of the poem “Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness” hits the reader head-on; This can only represent one season; “mist” it could be spring, but there is no harvesting in spring; therefore it must be autumn. Though autumn is the time of reaping, it does not have to be profuse. The speaker is presenting to the reader his feeling of appreciation of this particular harvest time. With two well chosen words he does that “mellow fruitfulness.” There is no guessing the abundance of the crop this autumn; the crop is ripened and plentiful. In the fourth line, one simple word, “bend” does the trick; if bend is taken from that sentence the laden apple trees would not be so vivid. The “wailing choir,” a well chosen phrase, in the last stanza caroling death; says so much, march. The season is changing; soon all these sounds will no longer be heard, the sound makers will hibernate. The continuous reference to spring shows that life is really a cycle and death should be an acceptable end of an era.
The speaker is in such a good mood his depiction of autumn presents a very unusual autumn in Winchester; he almost turns it into a balmy day in spring. Who would imagine that such a day as this exists in England in autumn? Who else but Keats could turn autumn into a woman in her reproductive years or make autumn a woman who has given birth? Thy hair soft-lifted by winnowing wind;/ Or on a half reap’d forrow sound asleep,/ Drows’d with the fume of poppies” (lines 15-17). Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowingwinnowing Separating the wheat from the chaff, the heavy from the light wind;
Drows'd with the fume of poppies
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowingwinnowing Separating the wheat from the chaff, the heavy from the light wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowingwinnowing Separating the wheat from the chaff, the heavy from the light wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowingwinnowing Separating the wheat from the chaff, the heavy from the light wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies,
Though Keats speaks of death, he deviates from his usual melancholy concept of death and makes it a happy time, it is not feared. Unlike in his other odes, this ode is free of lamentation, there is no wanting to hold time still, one is born to die.
The poem has a total of three stanzas with eleven lines each. The first stanza follows the following rhyming scheme, ABABCDEDCCE, "dance rhythm" of moving left/Strophe, while the other two stanzas have ABABCDECDDE scheme right/Antistrophe, and still/Epode. The metric system is not the same either, but that only lends to the uniqueness of the poem. The poem’s exceptional rhyming scheme and metric foot follows the division of the poem as it ppresents three diverse meaning to autumn.
“Ode to Autumn,” the last of Keats odes, is very singular from all his other odes. In his other odes, Keats tries to hold on to life, and echoes his impending death. In this ode he accepts the cycle of life, knowing that spring will never come for his again, He knows that winter is inevitable consequently; he will enjoy autumn while he waits for winter, death. .
