‘Ate it’ and ‘plucked it’ are examples of the personification used in ‘There Came a Day’, and they describe how autumn brutally ended summer. The phrase ‘’plucked it’’ refers to autumn taking the leaves off summer’s leaves, and compares it to a person ‘plucking’ feathers. “His mouth was wide and red as a sunset’’ and ‘’his tail was an icicle’’, is another example of personification. These metaphors act for the head and tail of autumn, so they are characterising the cycle of autumn. The start of autumn is hot and everything is colourful like summer, whereas the end of autumn is cold and pale – equivalent to winter.
In ‘There came a day’, Hughes puts: ‘’What shall I do with the sun?’’ He then responds ‘’Roll him away till he’s cold and small…He’ll come back rested if he comes back at all.’’ This metaphor is Autumn thinking about what change or difference he makes to the sun. The negative metaphor that Hughes uses about autumn begs to differ about the fact that during spring, the sun is anticipated to return.
Only the narrative voice is used in the poem ‘Ode to Autumn’, and not as much personification is used – even though in the first stanza, Keats describes autumn as ‘’a close bosom-friend of the maturing sun.’’ This shows the change in the season in the day, as the sun causes the burst of ripe food for harvesting and associates the sun and autumn together. Hughes believes that autumn is not associated with the sun, thereupon it shows a contrast between both poets’ different view points.
I have noticed that both poets use quotations - the difference being that Hughes' are personified as Autumn, and Keats' are rhetorical. ‘’Where are the songs of spring, ay where are they?’’ shows disappointment that the season is coming to an end, but Keats is quick to reassure the reader that it will arrive sometime soon, and to be happy that Autumn came to begin with.
The repetition of ‘’the day said, the day said’’ used by Hughes makes a striking, powerful effect on the reader. It also shows evidence of how the questions are shown as Autumn.
Hughes and Keats both have a love for nature, as they were raised in countryside. Even though they grew up in different places, which could affect the way in which they see nature, they both write about birds that migrate and birds that don't. So this is a similarity that the two poems have.
The phrase ‘’And what shall I do with the birds…the birds I’ve frightened let them flit, I’ll hang out the pork for the brave tomtit.’’ shows the point of view of what happens to the birds during autumn. It describes the birds as ‘frightened’, which implies that they have flown away; when birds migrate south for the winter. Hughes also mentions the ‘tomtit’ as being ‘brave’. The reader can tell that the tomtit is brave, as it doesn't migrate for the winter.
Keats talks about the birds at the end of the poem, when he describes what happens in autumn. ‘’The red breast whistles from a garden-croft. And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.’’ This tells the reader that the robin stays for autumn and winter, but the swallows are coming together in the skies and preparing to migrate south.
Onomatopoeia and alliteration are used in ‘Ode to Autumn’ but only Onomatopoeia is used in ‘There Came a Day’. Ted Hughes uses the word ‘plucked’ in the first stanza to describe autumn shedding leaves. John Keats uses “whistle” and “twitter” in the last stanza of his poem to describe the songs of birds. Keats also uses alliteration in the second stanza, when he talks about the “winnowing wind’’ which describes the autumn wind. This creates a musical and pleasant effect, which highlights the love for nature in this poem. It also links to the imitation that Keats uses, which creates a highly relaxed tone. "Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind" represents this well, as it mimics the soft, gentle wind blowing.
Looking at the structure and layout of the two poems there are many differences between them. ‘There came a day’ is set out in seven stanzas, each with four lines and neatly aligned to the right. The first and last stanzas are about the day that came, and narrated. Stanzas two, three, four, five and six are about what autumn does and poetic voice is used. Stanzas two, three, four and five are refer to nature and animals, but stanza six is about humans, and how autumn affects us. The way the poem is set out makes it easy to read and the organization of the stanzas makes it exciting.
In ‘Ode to Autumn’ it is set out completely different, as there are only three stanzas, which all have eleven lines and they are not aligned, but they are however set out in an unusual way. The first stanza is about the positive outlook on autumn and the harvest of food. The second stanza is about hibernation, and the third is about the start of winter, migration and death.
The vocabulary used in the poems is also very different. This is probably because of the period that the poems were written, and the poets’ personal styles. John Keats was a pre-twentieth century poet, so the vocabulary used in his poem was very old fashioned and traditional. We can tell this from phrases such as: “thou hast’’ and “thou dost”. Ted Hughes was a twentieth century poet, so his language is more modern. Phrases such as “stuff them” and “plucked it” show that it is a more recent poem.
The two poems have many differences and only a few similarities. I believe there to be so many differences to be because of the different time period that the two poets lived in because John Keats’s poem is more traditional and Ted Hughes’s is modern. It is also because of the different style they write in and their own personal points view about autumn. Although I feel the similarity between the two poems is that both poets show their individual feelings.
