Ode to Autumn by John Keats
To Autumn
By John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
***************************************
Stanza-wise Paraphrase and Explanation of the poem Ode to Autumn
Stanza 1
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
Paraphrase
O! Autumn! You are the season of mists and the season of soft and pleasant fruitfulness. You are very dear and close-bosom friend of the sun who brings maturity and ripeness to the fruits. With the help of the sun, you secretly make plans and arrange so that the vines that run around the thatch eves are blessed and loaded with fruits, the cottage trees that are covered with moss are bent with apples, all the fruits are filled with ripeness to the very core, gourds are swelled, hazel shells are plumped with a sweet kernel and you set the budding more and still more so that they become flowers for the bees and they begin to think that these warm days would never come to an end because summer has made the cells of their honey combs sticky with honey and are over-brimmed with honey.
Explanation and Analysis
The poet addresses Autumn that she is the season of mists and of soft and pleasant fruitfulness. The poet has personified Autumn. She brings mists in the air and brings pleasant fruitfulness. She is a close bosom or very dear and close friend of Sun who brings maturity and ripeness to the fruits. With the help of Sun she makes such secret plans and arrangements that the vines that run around the thatch eaves are blessed and loaded with fruits, the cottage trees that are covered with moss are bent with apples i.e. there appear so many apples on the apple trees that they are bent, all the fruits are filled with ripeness to the very core, gourds are swelled, hazel shells are plumped with a sweet kernel and Autumn sets the budding more and more and still more so that they become flowers for the bees so that they can make more and more honey and the bees begin to think that these warm days would never come to an end. The summer that has made the cells of their honey combs sticky with honey are over-brimmed with honey. This stanza has several sensuous imagery of sight and taste. one can see the ripe fruits and imagine the sweet taste of ripe fruits and honey
Stanza 2
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Paraphrase
O! Autumn! Who has not seen you amidst your store? Sometimes whoever seeks you abroad can find you sitting carelessly on the floor of the granary, on the floor that is filled with grains while winnowing wind lifts your hair softly. (In summer farmers utilize soft wind for winnowing i.e. removing chaff from the grains.) Or one can find you sleeping soundly having been drowsed by the fume of poppy, on half reaped furrow having let your hook on the field after sparing the next swath during reaping and having spared the twined flowers that were to be reaped. Sometimes one can find you as a gleaner crossing the the brook, keeping your laden head steady, the head that is laden with gleans. Or sometimes one can find you by your cyder press patiently and silently watching the last drop of juice coming from the cyder press hour by hour.
Explanation and Analysis
The personification of Autumn continues in the second stanza as well. The poet asks a rhetoric question to Autumn to make his point that every one must have seen Autumn in the form of a farmer who is sitting carelessly on the floor full of grains of harvest while the soft winnowing wind lifts his hair softly or one must have Autumn in the form of a reaper who fell asleep while reaping by the scent of poppy. The scent of poppy makes the reaper asleep on the furrow itself leaving his sickle aside. The drowsiness is so strong that the reaper is not able to cut the next swath of twined flowers of poppy. Or one must have seen Autumn in the form of a gleaner crossing a brook with his head laden with gleans and keeping his head steady. Similarly, one must have seen Autumn in the form of Cyder pressman who is attending the cyder press and watching the juice coming from the cyder press continuously and patiently for hours. In this stanza, Autumn is personified as farmer, reaper, gleaner and cyder press man. All these forms are symbolic to abundance and fruitfulness of Autumn how she fulfills nature with sweetness, tastefulness, fulfilment and abundance. farmer sitting on granary floor is a symbol of yield and fulfilment which leads to carefree mood and sitting on grains. Reaper too is a similar symbol but his hard work leads to sleeping on the furrow. It shows that he is not in a hurry. He has sufficient yield. Gleaner is a different symbol. For some people like gleaner, it is a time of hard work to collect from nature as much as one may get. Like gleaner, cyder press man works hard patiently and collect apple juice as much as possible to be sold later.
Alliteration and Assonance: The music of the lines is heightened through devices such as “winnowing wind” and “soft-lifted by the winnowing wind.”
Stanza 3
Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
Stanza 3
Paraphrase
O! Autumn! Where are the songs of spring? Now tell me where they are. Now you don’t think of them because you too have your own music. While the bar shaped clouds decorate the end of the day in the western sky and the light touches the plains full of stubbles and gives them a rosy color, the gnats in the sallow river mourn in wail-full choir for the dying day and fly in the soft wind going up or down as the wind rises and falls. Loud bleat of full grown lambs is heard from the hilly bourn. Hedge crickets sing with soft treble, the red-breast birds whistle from garden croft and gathering swallows twitter in the sky. Next two images are sound imagery. Hedge crickets sing in a soft treble tone and a red-breast bird sings in a whistle tone from a garden croft. The last imagery is about sound and vision both. The swallows are gathering and twittering in the skies.
Explanation and Analysis
The praise of Autumn continues but here the poet compares Autumn with spring. The poet makes an interrogation where the songs of spring. of course there cant be any songs of spring in the season of Autumn but Autumn doesn't care about songs of springs because Autumn too has its songs. The wants to prove the point that Autumn too has its beauty which no less that that of spring. The poet then describes the beauty of Autumn presenting several glimpses of imagery. The first imagery is sunset observed behind barred clouds throwing rosy colour on the stubbled plains. The next imagery is of sound and vision. The gnats sing in a tone of mourning which makes as if the gnats are mourning for the dying day. The gnats are singing and flying in a swarm going up and down as the wind rises and falls
Comments
Post a Comment