Study Guide by Arpita Karwa

Ode to Autumn by John Keats

observant as he collects loose cuttings from the fields

after the harvest. Autumn has to observantly watch the
stream and the rest of the time, the machine that juices
the apples for cider catches Autumn’s eyes. Autumn
watches how it takes several hours to have the juice come
out of the machine slowly.

The poet asks where is the kind of music which defines

spring and suggests birdsong for example. He repeats his

m
question after which he says to not think about spring
and the music which characterizes it. He says autumn
has a music of its own. When Autumn’s music plays, the
"To Autumn" is an ode by the English Romantic poet background has beautiful clouds stretched across the

co
John Keats.
The poet begins by describing Autumn as the season
associated with mists, as a season when an overall sense of
calm and abundance sets in. He addresses Autumn and
a.
says that it is a closely-related friend of the Sun and whose
heat and light aids all the fruits and vegetables in growing.
In his address to Autumn, he says that it works along with
the Sun to ensure that fruits grow on the vines which
w
cover the edge of a farmhouse’s roof. He says that
Autumn works so hard to make so many fruits grow that
the branches of the mossy apple trees weaken up and bend
r
evening sky while let the sunlight penetrate in a way that
brings a pink hue on the harvested fields. He says that
autumn’s music consists of gnats which hum in sadness
amidst the willows growing along the riverbanks, those
gnats rise and fall as per the strength of the wind. The
music includes lambs and crickets and red-breasted bird;
lambs make a baah sound from the fence of their enclo-
sure in the hills; the crickets sing in the bushes and the
bird makes a low-pitched whistle from a tiny garden.
The music also includes the expanding flock of swallows
— which sing together against the darkening sky as they
rise.

down. Sun and autumn make every fruit ripen fully.

Autumn makes gourds swell and hazel shells start growing
ka

with a sweet nut inside of them. Autumn lets flowers keep

growing more and more and also grow new buds — which
when come to full bloom are gathered by bees, who collect
the flower’s pollen. The poet says that bees think autumn’s
warmth is to stay forever as they have so many flowers and
ta

there is so much pollen that the beehives start to overflow

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with honey.

In the next stanza, the poet asks Autumn if there is some-

pi

one who hasn’t noticed it. He says anyone who is wander-

ing here and there will find you sitting on a floor of the
building where grain is stored. Their eyes will also see how
your hair is lifted by a gentle stroke of wind which causes
ar

the hair to separate just like a harvester separates the

different components of wheat. Someone might find you
in the fields as you are asleep on an unfinished harvested
row of the crops. You are fatigued on account of the
aroma of the poppies - which are known to make one feel
sleepy. And in that scenario, the poet says, that Autumn’s
scythe which it has been using to cut the crops will now be
of no use and the next batch of twisted flowers will be
spared from the cutting. He says sometimes Autumn is
like that agricultural worker who has to be super alert and

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