How is autumn presented in To Autumn ?
In To Autumn, John Keats draws inspiration from a walk he had on an autumn evening to present an ode
to the changing season as a time of abundance, playfulness and tranquillity, and to simultaneously express
his wistful acceptance of human morality. The title itself directly addresses the season, as if it were a love
poem and celebrates the season as a poem from the Romantic era..
At the start of the first stanza, Keats presents autumn as a time of harvest when the speaker says “Seasons of
mists and mellow fruitfulness!”. This exclamative discloses their celebratory appreciation for the abundance
brought from nature, particularly implied by the noun “fruitfulness”. Keats also establishes a warm inviting
tone, with intense musicality through the sibilance in the first line. This is emphasised further into stanza
one through a series of active verbs such as “bend”, “swell”, “fill”, and “load”, all of which are “[blessed]” by
autumn. The series suggests that autumn is the best season as it reflects life at its fullest, whilst further
instilling a sense of liveliness and rigour through the dynamic verbs. Keats, by utilising the verb “bless” ,
credits autumn and implies a sense of holiness behind the season, which yields power to life on earth-
perhaps linking to his portrayal of autumn as a goddess in stanza two. This affluence that Keats acclaims is
potentially even reflected through the poem’s extra eleventh line in each stanza compared to other odes of
this series (which had 10 lines in each).
Further into the stanza, Keats presents the playful side of autumn through “Until they think warm days will
never cease”- where autumn is personified as tricking life into believing the season would never end. On one
hand, Keats’ personification could further amplify autumn’s endearing, lively qualities for the reader; On
the other hand, he could also be reflecting the youthful naivety of life in the face of near-imperceptible
maturity, thus including a melancholic link to stanza three.
In stanza 2, Keats embodies Autumn as a “careless,” humble goddess who is “drows’d with the fume of
poppies “ . The adjective “careless” implies Autumn is near-effortless during harvest, to re-emphasize the
season’s abundance. Alternatively, Keats could also be presenting a lazy, dreamlike quality of the season
through this adjective, linking to the flower “poppies” which opioids were obtained from (further
reinforcing the euphoric state of autumn ). Whilst the metaphor of autumn being a lazy, elegant goddess
was not uncommon, as depictions of seasons as women were seen in European art, Keats embodying
autumn as a “gleaner” (effectively peasants) not only suggests the season is humble, stressing acclamation for
In To Autumn, John Keats draws inspiration from a walk he had on an autumn evening to present an ode
to the changing season as a time of abundance, playfulness and tranquillity, and to simultaneously express
his wistful acceptance of human morality. The title itself directly addresses the season, as if it were a love
poem and celebrates the season as a poem from the Romantic era..
At the start of the first stanza, Keats presents autumn as a time of harvest when the speaker says “Seasons of
mists and mellow fruitfulness!”. This exclamative discloses their celebratory appreciation for the abundance
brought from nature, particularly implied by the noun “fruitfulness”. Keats also establishes a warm inviting
tone, with intense musicality through the sibilance in the first line. This is emphasised further into stanza
one through a series of active verbs such as “bend”, “swell”, “fill”, and “load”, all of which are “[blessed]” by
autumn. The series suggests that autumn is the best season as it reflects life at its fullest, whilst further
instilling a sense of liveliness and rigour through the dynamic verbs. Keats, by utilising the verb “bless” ,
credits autumn and implies a sense of holiness behind the season, which yields power to life on earth-
perhaps linking to his portrayal of autumn as a goddess in stanza two. This affluence that Keats acclaims is
potentially even reflected through the poem’s extra eleventh line in each stanza compared to other odes of
this series (which had 10 lines in each).
Further into the stanza, Keats presents the playful side of autumn through “Until they think warm days will
never cease”- where autumn is personified as tricking life into believing the season would never end. On one
hand, Keats’ personification could further amplify autumn’s endearing, lively qualities for the reader; On
the other hand, he could also be reflecting the youthful naivety of life in the face of near-imperceptible
maturity, thus including a melancholic link to stanza three.
In stanza 2, Keats embodies Autumn as a “careless,” humble goddess who is “drows’d with the fume of
poppies “ . The adjective “careless” implies Autumn is near-effortless during harvest, to re-emphasize the
season’s abundance. Alternatively, Keats could also be presenting a lazy, dreamlike quality of the season
through this adjective, linking to the flower “poppies” which opioids were obtained from (further
reinforcing the euphoric state of autumn ). Whilst the metaphor of autumn being a lazy, elegant goddess
was not uncommon, as depictions of seasons as women were seen in European art, Keats embodying
autumn as a “gleaner” (effectively peasants) not only suggests the season is humble, stressing acclamation for
