“To Autumn” by John Keats and “The Prelude” by Wordsworth

               As the boy “pushed from the shore” it suggests the great physical effort that was involved in the adventure, as he leaves the cave and slowly floats out into the middle of the lake the whole atmosphere that the poet had built up begins to loosen and adjust through the use of nature.

               “Of Mountain Echo's” suggests the idea that nature was taking place and the door to adulthood opened for the boy, in doing so this give the boy a wide range of choices, unlike childhood.

                The mention of the moon creates a very mysterious atmosphere, it also adds a very magical quality to the poem.

              As the boy moves on, ‘‘proud of his skill’’ he notices ‘‘the summit of a craggy ridge’’ which is used to symbolise the dangers of adulthood, on seeing this the boy becomes anxious, as he ‘‘went heaving threw the water like a swan’’ he panics, even more so when he sees ‘‘a huge peak, black and huge’’, the repetition of ‘huge’ portrays a feeling of breathlessness. The boy feels a sense of fear and awe as he’s faced with the grandeur of nature.

              The mountain is ‘‘growing still in stature’’ and the boy is deeply disturbed by what is happening. The boy feels that he would rather be safely back in ‘‘the covert of the willow tree’’    

               This again strains the great physical effort that was involved in the adventure, this seems to make the boy feel very insignificant and suggests that the boy isn’t ready for adulthood yet and obviously makes the boy feel very confused.

            ‘‘Blank Desertion’’ is used to convey the poets state of mind, the boy is left deeply bewildered by his experience, he begins to have trouble sleeping and is haunted by ‘‘huge and mighty forms’’, the events have a long lasting effect on wordsworth and provides him with ‘‘trouble to my dreams’’.

          Keats poem ‘Ode to Autumn’  has three different stanza’s in it, the first stanza  appeals to the senses of sight and taste, the second to sight and smell and the third to the sense of hearing.

            The poem uses nature to symbolize the stages in someone’s life, ‘‘Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness’’ creates a very springtime atmosphere yet it also suggests a sense of ripeness. We can see that this stanza is appealing to the sense of sight as it creates a perfect picture of the ‘‘Maturing Sun’’.

            At the beginning of this stanza it creates a picture of beautiful, deserted mountains in the springtime, as all fruit is filled with ‘’with ripeness to the core’’. The poem is used to symbolize the stages in ones life and would suggest that this stage of the poem represents the prime of someone’s life as ‘‘they think warm days will never cease’’.

            Keats uses a more positive side of nature in the first stanza, the words ‘‘fruitfulness, ripeness, swell and plump’’ helps to build a calm sunny atmosphere. Keats also uses religious words such as ‘‘blessed’’ and ‘‘vines’’ which reminds us of the wine at the last supper.

              ‘‘To bend with apples the moss’d cottage tree’’ appeals to our sense of touch, it builds a peaceful picture of beauty in our minds. Shortly after the bees think summer will never end, this reflects the transitory nature of life.

              The next stanza portrays images of comfort and relaxation, especially when the poet describes someone as ‘‘sitting careless on a granary floor’’ then there is an image of a person ‘‘sound asleep’’ in the middle of a field. The poet makes it seem like everyone has stopped everything and decided to laze about. The poet has effectively created a dreamlike mood here as he describes ‘‘the fume of poppies’’.

          The whole idea of laziness in the poem relates to the middle aged period in a persons life. It is as if the person doesn’t want to get any older and doesn’t want ‘winter’ to take its natural turn.

            The stanza ends with the image of worker pressing apples, the poet gives us an idea of the calm, gentle mood that he has ‘‘thou watchest the last oozings’’.

             The third and last stanza brings the long awaited and dreaded winter, the stanza begins giving us the idea that the poet is in a calm and collected mood. The poet realizes how spring is usually associated with happy times yet strongly disagrees, he believes that autumn is the bringer of the good times.

         ‘‘And touch the stubble-plain with rosy hue’’ this paints a beautiful yet melancholic picture of autumn which is very different from the ripe abundant images of the first two stanzas. This also express’ the main theme of the poem, that life is a mixture of good and bad times.

                I have concluded that both poets have gone threw similar stages in there own lives, however I have noticed that Keats accepts changes and tries to move on whereas Wordsworth leaves himself in a worried state and cant quite grasp the fact that life changes as we get older, sometimes for the best and sometimes for the worst.