To Autumn – A Proclamation of Life and Hope

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To Autumn – A Proclamation of Life and Hope

The poem "To Autumn" is an amazing piece of work written by one of the greatest poets of all time, John Keats. From a simple reading, the poem paints a beautiful picture of the coming season. However, one may wonder if there is more to the poem than what the words simply say. After it is studied and topics such as sound, diction and imagery are analyzed, one can clearly say that Keats used those techniques to illustrate the progression of death, and to show that there is still life at the end of life.

From the very beginning of "To Autumn,” sound appears to be an important aspect of Keats’s technique. When the words are studied, there is an even mixture of loud and soft sounds. Some soft sounding words – words that use consonant sounds that are soft when spoken such as an s -- include mists, close, son, bless, mossed, and trees. There are also the hard sounding words – words that use consonant sounds that are loud when spoken such as a b or t -- like maturing, round, thatch, and budding. The words do not appear to be randomly used, but they seem to have a pattern: the hard and soft sounds come in pairs. In the second line, we see, "close bosom friend of the maturing sun.” Close and bosom go together, with close being loud and soft with the hard c and soft s, and bosom being loud and soft with the b and s. The words “maturing sun” are not placed together haphazardly either. Maturing is a very hard word with the m and t sound; sun is a very soft word, beginning with an s. Also, in the third line Keats says, “Conspiring with him how to load and bless.” Autumn is conspiring . . . to load (loud due to the p and d sounds) and bless (soft due to the double s soun...

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...cluding lively images such as crickets singing, red breasts whistling, and swallows twittering. This ends Keats message of the vitality at the conclusion of life.

Keats used the poem "To Autumn" to illustrate the progression of death and the existence of hope and life in the face of impending death. He uses sound by moving from a mixture of loud and soft words in stanza one, to mainly soft in stanza two, to a complete mixture in stanza three of soft then loud. He also uses diction and imagery by reflecting the quick and kinesthetic constitution of youth, the slow and full characteristics of the coming death, and the arrested and barren traits of death, and finally, the resounding proclamation of life and hope in the very end.

Works Cited:

Keats, John. "To Autumn." Columbia Granger's World of Poetry. CD-ROM. Rel. 2.2. New York: Columbia UP, 1995.

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