'Ode to Autumn' by John Keats - Natural Aspects of Autumn

Ode to Autumn

John Keats

(Aspects of Autumn)

Describe the various aspects of Autumn embodied in Keats’ Ode to Autumn

Answer: The poem, Ode to Autumn frequently been termed the most nearly perfect short poem in English. This is the last and most measure of Keats’ works. It is the most faultless, though not the most sublime, of his odes.

The ode celebrates Autumn in its rich beauty and marvelous colors. It dwells on the characteristic occupation of Autumn as well as its delightful sights and sounds.

Shakespearean in its rich serenity of mood, the poem breathes a spirit of happy contentment- not always found in Keats. Nature is described for nature’s sake. So the poet is completely absent from the poem.

Our enjoyment of autumnal beauty is disturbed by no romantic reflection. No looking before and after, no real regret for the joys of Spring that is gone. Unlike Shelley, (“Can Spring be far behind?”) Keats accepts the life of man exactly for what it is. In Autumn everything has reached fruition and in Shakespearean term "Ripeness is all”.

However, Keats depicts Autumn as a benevolent spirit. It causes the fruit and flowers to grow plentifully and in this it receives the co-operation of the sun. It burdens with grapes, the vines, growing round the eaves of thatched roofs. The moss-covered trees of the cottage gardens bend low because of the load of apples. It makes all fruit over ripe and juicy. It enlarges gourds and fattens the hazel nuts with a sweet Kernel. Autumn also causes flowers to blossom late in the season in order to supply the bees with honey, against the cold season. Now the bee-hives are full of the brim and honey flows over them.

The poet then gives us a series of delectable pictures of Autumn in her usual forms a occupation. First, she appears in the character of a harvester who, now that her work is done, sets on the granary floor and her hair is gently tossed by the ‘winnowing wind’. Next we see a reaper who being tired of over work has fallen asleep in the midst of her toil. She is induced to sleep by the narcotic scent of puppies. Thirdly we come across the gleaner carrying home the sheaves of corn on her head. She has to balance herself carefully filed folding a stream. Finally, Autumn is seen as a wine-maker sitting by the side of the press and watching the apple-juice oozing hour by hour.

In the last stanza, the poet describes the music of Autumn. Where the days end, the clouds bloom with the color of the setting sun. And the stubble left on the reaped fields are aglow with a beautiful rosy here. At this hour the small gnats break forth into a mournful song by the riverside. One can hear the loud bleating of the full-grown lambs from the hilly region. The crickets chirp shrilly in the hedges. The robin redbreast whistles joyfully from the garden field. The swallows gather together and twitter in the sky.

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