To autumn赏析.doc

Background It was during the months of spring 1819 that he wrote many of his major odes. Following the month of May 1819, he began to tackle other forms of poetry, including a play, some longer pieces, and a return to his unfinished epic, Hyperion. His brothers financial woes continued to loom over him, and, as a result, Keats had little energy or inclination for composition, but, on 19?September? 1819, he managed to squeeze out To Autumn, his last major work and the one that rang the curtain down on his career as a poet Themes As the poem progresses, Autumn is represented metaphorically as one who conspires, who ripens fruit, who harvests, who makes music. 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”. Keats presents us a wonderful picture of the maturation of autumn. In the second stanza Autumn is personified as a harvester,[13] to be seen by the viewer in various guises performing labouring tasks essential to the provision of food for the coming year. There is a lack of definitive action, all motion being gentle. Autumn is not depicted as actually harvesting but as seated, resting or watching.[12] In lines 14–15 the personification of Autumn is as an exhausted labourer. Near the end of the stanza, the steadiness of the gleaner in lines 19–20 again emphasises a motionlessness within the poem.[14] The progression through the day is revealed in actions that are all suggestive of the drowsiness of afternoon: the harvested grain is being winnowed, the harvester is asleep or returning home, the last drops issue from the cider press.[11] The last stanza contrasts Autumns sounds with those of Spring. The sounds that are presented are not only those of Autumn but es