Analysis of John Keats To Autumn - Essay Example

?Jeffrey Rozenberg Prof Diberdano December 11, John Keats: “To Autumn” John Keats was an English romantic poet in the early 1800s. One of his best works “To Autumn” is both beautiful and lyrical, the words creating an entire scene painting a picture in our minds of great imagery with words that create color, tone, and environment. The poem means much more than just the description of the season. While some critics have considered it a static poem, there are others who disagree with that assessment. The poem discusses time and the seasonal nature of life. The poem can sometimes be thought of as symbolizing a life that has reached its peak and is drifting towards the sleep of winter. The construction of the poem as a piece of language art has been done with skills that are surprising and inventive. While it is easy to interpret the poem from a static point of view, the deeper meanings open the poem to an interpretation that reflects movement through the lifespan and movement through time. In this paper I will attempt to demonstrate how the poem creates deeper meanings through carefully constructed phrasing and a creative use of word choice. . In reference to the poem “To Autumn” by John Keats, Nemoianu claims that it is sometimes not as often studied because there is a general interpretation that “there (was) a lack of balance between substance and message” (Nemoianu 205). Nemoianu counters this claim by stating, “the older view of the poem as a static portrait of autumn seems to have been discarded in favor of an interpretation stressing process or movement” (Nemoianu 205). Static poetry is sometimes not seen as poetry, but as prose that has adopted a poetic form. Poetry can either be static or dynamic. Static poetry tells the whole story and leaves little to the imagination of the reader while dynamic poetry tells hints of the idea and allows the reader to fill in what can be imagined. While “To Autumn” might seem to create all of the imagery, Nemoianu shows that this is not true as the transitions in the poem open up interpretations by the reader. As an example, where the first stanza is about the organic nature of the fruit and vegetation, the second stanza brings in the human element as the imagery begins to form around elements of the farm. The human element is suggested in phrasing such as “Thee sitting careless on the granary floor” and “Or by a cider press with patient look”. Nemoianu uses this to show that Keats has transitioned from the purely organic to the human space in order to create a sense of connection which is dynamic as it makes the reader create this connection. The first four lines discuss the life cycle relationship of the sun to the vines, the ripening of the apples creating a feeling of the crisp air of the autumn as the sun is dampened by the mists. Patterson discusses the syntax of this section as the decoding of this section requires the participation of the reader as the grammatical norms are flaunted. Patterson states “Poetic syntax, then, bridges the vexing gap between form and its perception” (449). Movement occurs in the arrangement of words as well as in the arrangement of imagery, which can lead the reader to understand the poem from a dynamic point of view. The first stanza is a long group that is defined by its focus on objects, the whole defined by its sense of organic control (Nemoianu 207). The first stanza is an example of the brilliance of Keats. Patterson states that “Keats's first stanza is one extravagantly long noun phrase without a main verb” (450). Keats defies the standards of English writing in creating a feeling of a complete sentence when it is not complete which suggests that he is trying to defy the rules of grammar without creating an awkwardness that most incomplete sentences leave with the reader. There is a bit of rebellion in the poem, which can also be interpreted for the rebellion that a human being will make against aging. It works, even though it should not, and man ages, but tries to avoid aging. The description in the first stanza is felt as Keats uses words like “swell”, “plump” and descriptions of vines that “bend with apples”. He is describing the end of the cycle as it reaches the height of its season, preparing to let go of summer and move into the sleep of winter. The first verse speaks of how summer has reached its end and the end is described as a peak, the fullness of the fruit and the plump cells of the honeycomb filled to it is “o’er brimm’d”. The choice of words whether directly related to the imagery of ripeness or creates imagery of the fullness of the bounty that is ready to be harvested and at the peak of its growth. The idea that Patterson puts forth where the structure is without a verb and is a continuing roll of nouns is a device that creates the feeling of ripening with rich descriptive use of words without being impeded by action. The action occurs as the reader envisions the idea of Autumn under the influence of the suggestions that Keats has made. The first stanza is all about the lush beauty of a harvest at its peak. The second verse describes the labor of autumn as the harvests are processed and the end of the long cycle of the season is prepared. Autumn is a season of storing of grain, the pressing of apples to cider and preparations that come with caring for the harvested food that must be tended to in order to prepare for the long sleep of winter. Autumn is given human characteristics as it begins its long journey towards the end of its day with all of the applications of labor overseen by the person that represents the season. We can see this In the last phrase, Keats states “And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across the brook Or by a cider press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours”. The third verse uses the poet’s tool of personification of autumn, meaning he assigns human characteristics to the season itself. Keats tells Autumn that she is just as beautiful as spring for the music she creates. The verse praises of the beauty of Autumn, creating a sense of the color and warmth that exists even though age of the seasons has arrived. The imagery has reds and yellows even though it is not specifically stated. There is the feeling of sound that exists within the music of autumn. The way in which Keats presents the image of the poem brings colorations of the season to mind – the yellow of the bees, the honey color saturating the birth of autumn through the description that he gives within the poem. Thorpe and Pierce discuss how the imagery is static, that the poem is too clearly laid out for the reader. Nemoianu disagrees, showing that the through imagery that is suggestive of tone and color, the reader is placed in a situation to create this world suggested by Keats and to extend it to a greater vista through the hints provided. The colors of autumn are not explicitly given, but are evoked by the way in which the poem hints at them. When looking at the poem for its symbolism, it can be seen as representing the cycle of life and what it means to come to the end of the time of labor. If one sees spring as the birth and childhood of life, summer as the young adulthood and time of life when hard work is aiming towards benefiting from the fruits of labor, the time of autumn can then be seen as the time of life when the fruits of labor are ready to be harvested, the jellies, jams, and honey stored for use when the time of rest is near. The autumn of life is a time just past the labors that have benefited from the time of harvest. Keats discusses this as a time to celebrate and feel for its beautiful and subtle rewards. When Keats states, “Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou has thy music too-“he is suggesting that childhood and youth were beautiful, but coming to the time of life where ‘autumn’ rules has its beauty as well. The process of movement can be seen as the poem moves from the moment just as summer ends, through the labors of preparing the fruits of harvest, until it sets in the end of the time of harvest and the world has settled into the state of preparedness for winter. In this last verse is a stillness that is infused with movement, but still suggests hints of autumn as it begins to reside on the brink of winter (Thorpe and Pierce). The literal movement that is seen within the work can be seen through the “evolution in space. From stanza to stanza, there is a remarkably regular multidimensional extension of perspective; setting and scenery change drastically, in an almost film like manner, subject to the position of the observing eye” (Nemoianu 206). The imagery of the film continues forward as if it has been scripted for a film, the movement from the ripe garden to the farm where the human element has been introduced, finally ends with the end of the harvest suggested by a sense of rest in the final stanza. It is through the observational perspective of the reader that the imagery moves through the mind’s eye. Keats writes in a similar style like much of his other work and explores the ode for ways in which to talk about his subject as well as suggest other meanings. According to Patterson Keats was looking at his life during the time that he was writing this poem. It is important to understand what Keats was thinking when he was writing this poem so that the differences can be further appreciated. Patterson writes that he was also taking his life more seriously so this influences the way in which the poem discusses life (450). As the reader thinks about the poem he can see how life requires preparation. The poem suggests that one should be prepared for the end of life. In working hard throughout the active seasons, the hard work and labor that is needed to fill the cupboards for the long winter will be needed during the cold months. The poem is a discussion of an ending of something important in the span of a life, creating a sense of hope for enjoying the rewards of the harvest that has been so carefully processed. The way in which Keats was looking at language, as it is different to his previous poems is important as well. The evolution of his work can be seen as he plays with the rules of language in order to create specific feelings. The language of the poem is not inside the rules, but that is not noticeable to the reader unless looked at closely (Patterson 450). As he works with structure and the English language he is looking for a way to rebel against the academic standards of grammar while still appearing to use them. The poem is not long, but it discusses a great deal within its words (Patterson 450). This poem represents autumn as a way of discussing life. Autumn is described as a common part of life, but not through a common use of language. The imagery that Keats creates is lyrical, yet subtle, bold in its use of language, but artful in its use of setting and environment. My response to the poem is to step into the world that Keats sets before me and watch as it unfolds moving from just before the moment that summer turns to autumn, to the moment after as it sits prepared and in wait of the long sleep of winter. Autumn is in movement until it becomes still, the buzzing of nature still occurring, but your breath held until it will at long last exhale to become the rest of winter. The poem moves through the moments with the music of the words that are used to express the vision that Keats shares. The poem shows movement, not only in imagery, but in the symbolism that it shares with the life cycle of man and also in its use of language. The use of language is artfully constructed as Keats defies modern English writing in order to show his skill. While some critics have looked at the work as static, without poetic hints to inspire the reader’s mind, there is evidence of a subtlety of meaning that the reader can find within the work. Keats designs a piece of artwork through language that bring imagery to mind, but through a deeper reading reveals much more about the human experience. Works Cited Nemoianu, Virgil. “The Dialectics of Movement in Keats's "To Autumn" PMLA. 93.2 (March 1978): 205-214. Patterson, Annabel M. “How to Load and …Bend”. PMLA. 94.3 (May 1979): 449-458. Thorpe, Clarence D. and Donald Pierce. “Recent Trends in Keats Scholarship and Criticism: 1941-1952”. Keats-Shelley Journal. 2 (January 1953). Read More