Both Keats and Hopkins present two different outlooks on nature through the theme, tone and imagery of their respective poems. The theme of Keats poem 'to Autumn' is that of the death of summer

The tone of the poem ‘to Autumn’ is that of a much darker tone to that of ‘Gods Grandeur’ and focus on the necessity of Autumn to present the death of Summer. This is shown by the line ‘For Summer has o’er-brimmed their clammy cells’. Throughout the first stanza the poem refers to an overwhelming sense of fertility and the idea that what ahs been moving fast has slowed and is slowing dying. The second stanza then introduce the personification of autumn, with the lines ‘Has not seen Autumn round here lately’. This stanza also introduces the idea of death further, where as it may be seen that Autumn has been personified as a reaper/harvesters it can also been seen that this maybe be a connection to perhaps the grim reaper bringing death to the furrows. This creates an new much darker light to the poem. The 3rd stanza is a lot more light-hearted than the others however and introduces the idea of rebirth and the more statistical side of autumn and generally declares that autumn can be just as nice as the summer. The poem ‘Gods Grandeur’ has a completely different tone completely focusing on different aspects of nature, usually the relationship between nature and God. Therefore the first stanza which outlines his pity for the people who have turned away from god is a lot darker in tone than the second stanza. The second stanza is a lot lighter in tone and discusses the majesty of nature however all in a fairly down tone fashion. As if he wonders why nobody ever appreciates it.

        The imagery of both poems is also different. ‘To Autumn‘presents in the first stanza and image of summer in all its majesty. With ‘all fruit ripeness to the core’ and mellow fruitfulness’. Keats tries to give us a warm imagery of the summer to almost in a sense shock us into the death of summer shown in the second stanza. He does this through detailed writing concerning the imagery In the poem. The second stanza then reflects upon the death of summer. We can see this through the lines ‘Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store’ (I have not see u often – refers to the autumn coming), ‘half-reaped’(idea of the grim reaper) and ‘drowsed with the fumes of poppies’(poppies only give off this during death). Lastly the 3rd stanza gives us the imagery of Re-birth of spring giving us imagery of ‘full grown lambs’, ‘hedge crickets sing’ ad ‘gathering swallows twitter in the skies’. These all focus on the idea that Autumn is a necessary part of the cycle in which spring will reappear once more. The imagery of ‘Gods Grandeur’ is slightly darker than that of ‘To Autumn’. The first stanza reflects around the imagery of original sin, ‘a wear mans smudge’ it is called.. The line ‘it will flame out’ is using metaphors to describe the fact that the light of god will eventually fade due to us abusing this world. Presenting it as a metaphor makes the idea much clearer to understand. The whole imagery of the poem feels dirty throughout the first stanza, which possibly reflects the idea that Hopkins considered the human race to be ‘dirty’ and full of sin. The second stanzas imagery is much more akin to reflection and it is hear where he describes ‘the dearest freshness’ and the beauty of the morning. In the last line he uses the imagery of a bird (breast, broods, and wings) for two reasons. One display and imagery of flying away and moving away. However it can also be interpreted as safety in the wings of the God who has chosen not to leave us but stay with us. This fits in with the stanzas theme of understanding and reflection of Gods presence.

        Both Hopkins and Keats provide two different outlooks on nature, emphasizing different ideas and views.