John Keats-Ode To Autumn
This is the last poem Keats wrote and is an ode, which is a lyric poem addressed to a person or thing and deals with one main idea. The romantic poets like Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats used this form of poem a lot. The Romantics wrote of many things in their poems and believed their emotions and their imagination were very important. In this poem the main subject is autumn which Keats relates to love, death and immortality (Romantics were interested in these areas). He describes Autumn’s rich images and uses them as symbols for his own feelings. Keats uses a mature language to convey a 'Romantics' view of Autumn and nature.
In the first stanza we are straight away led into the idea of something which is warm, pleasant, smooth and full of richness – autumn.. The word autumn is never used except in the title so we only know it’s autumn because of the way Keats paints us a picture with words. With words like “mellow” and “fruitfulness” being used. Keats then talks of the sun and how it ripens everything in a completed and full way, “And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core..” This shows how Keats believes autumn begins and summer ends, with the growth and ripeness of fruit and plants. He uses detailed, complex and innovative language to describe a maturing and full Autumn. For example, when talking about the ripening fruit of autumn “ And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core” and “”To swell the gourd and plump the hazel shells”. The use of those words “swell” and “plump”in this context presents a very real picture. He shows use a summer leaving and a Autumn entering in abundance and an idea of love. The line “..later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease,” shows how autumn can come slowly in with warm sun and late flowers such that the bees may think it is still summer. Maybe this all relates to Keats and shows he had reached the ripest point of his career.
