To Autumn 《秋颂》英文赏析

To Autumn

John Keats

To Autumn is an immortal poem. I will try to write some of my feelings after reading To Autumn and analyze it. I believe this will not be an easy work.

To Autumn deals with the presence of nature and how autumn itself is more significant than any of the other seasons. What most called my attention was the infinite number of images you can imagine by reading it. It seems that john Keats describes what he imagine and while reading it, I can create the picture in my mind, of what he is seeing.

To Autumn has three stanzas. Each of three stanzas shows us different time of a day and different time of autumn. I thought this poem exhibited two kinds of progression of time. First is the time of day. The first stanza is the morning with the "mists". The second is late afternoon, when the hot sun is beating down and makes everyone drowsy. The third is at sunset with the "barred clouds" piercing the sky with its "rosy hue". This poem also shows a progression in the season of autumn itself. The first stanza is early autumn because "summer has o'er brimmed. It shows the maturing of summer’s bounty. The second is mid-autumn, because it's time for harvest. The third is late autumn because the birds are headed south for winter.

In stanza 1, Keats describes autumn with a series of specific,

concrete, and vivid images. The stanza begins with autumn at the peak of fulfillment and continues with an Initially autumn and the sun "load and bless" by ripening the fruit. But the apples become so numerous that their weight bends the trees; the gourds "swell," and the hazel nuts "plump." Personification in this stanza is not very clear.

In stanza 2, autumn personified as a harvester, crosses a brook and watches a cider press. Otherwise autumn is listless and even falls asleep. The furrow is "half-reap'd," the winnowed hair refers to ripe grain still standing, and apple cider is still being pressed. However, the end of the cycle is near. The press is squeezing out "the last oozings." Find other words that indicate slowing down. Notice that Keats describes a reaper who is not harvesting and who is not turning the press. Personification here is very successful. It gives autumn a personality and the autumn is no longer abstract.

In stanza 3, spring in line one has same function as summer in stanza 1. They represent process, and the change of time. Spring is a time of a rebirth of life. Autumn means death for the now "full-grown" lambs which were born in spring; they are ravaged in autumn. And the answer to the question of line 1, where are Spring's songs, is that they are past or dead. The auditory details that follow are autumn's songs.

I know that Kea ts wrote ‘To Autumn’ shortly before his death, but to me this poem is more about the approaching death of Keats and the