To Autumn - The Final Season In the Life of a Poet Essay examples

While both Keats and Longfellow often reflect on their own unfulfilled dreams and impending deaths, the poems however contrast on their own dispositions towards death and the future. Here, Keats expresses a fear of not having enough time to accomplish all that he believes he is capable of doing, but as he recognizes the enormity of the world and his own limitations of life, he realizes that his own mortal goals are meaningless in the long run of things. On the other hand, Longfellow speaks of a regret towards his inaction for allowing time to slip away from him in his past and is at a crossroads for the ominous future that looms ahead of him. Through the use of light and dark imagery, and personification, Keats and Longfellow similarly yet also differently, reflect on their own ideas for death and the futures that lay ahead of them.

The poems “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats and “To Autumn” by John Keats have some similarities as well as some differences. Both authors talk about the sounds like water, animals, birds, and insects. Also, they talk about the scenery, for instance, sunset over the lake and trees full of fruits. But one author talks about moving a place far from city and the other talks about how one season is different from the others. The language in these poems is soothing because the poets wrote their poems in a way in which a reader could picture it and imagine the sounds, both the poems have imagery. The different interpretations of the poets’ language influences on how the poem is understood by the reader. Both authors talks about the peaceful sounds of nature and captivating views of landscape but they have different settings.

But, we should first and foremost put this sonnet back in its context. We can easily presume that it is autobiographic, thus that Keats reveals us his own worries. In 1818, he is aware that he has short time left to live due to the fatal illness

The poem was first published May 1819，the time which John Keats had been judged a lot. Even Percy Bysshe Shelley suspected Keats’ death had something to do with the harsh criticism. In 1818, a man called John Wilson Croker wrote a article, in which he accused Keats of using rhymes from working class speech. He also said Keats was unintelligible, rugged, diffuse, tiresome absurd and gratuitous nonsense. Therefore, it was a

The four last lines of the second stanza, as I mentioned earlier, describes Autumn in pure action, "Steady thy laden head across a brook; /Or by a cider-press, with patient look," by bringing out the true active lifestyle of what nature truly is. Again, through his imagination Keats is able to embark upon what he is really seeing. The purpose of the poem becomes clear in the final stanza, and in the warmth of the second line, "Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they? /Think not of them, Thou hast thy music too," where Keats sheds light on the idea that that everything has a purpose. It would appear that Autumn, the season which robs us of the warmth of summer, where the leaves come tumbling from the trees, the season that prepares the world for a dark and cold winter ahead, has its purpose too. What would spring be without death, light without dark, but indeed it appears that Keats is thinking of life without death. In this poem, Keats is able to focus in on the beauty and splendid ness of autumn in order to demonstrate that everything will change according

Saint Agnes is known as the patron saint of virgins and on the eve of her feast day, January 20th, young virgin girls were told to perform certain rituals. They were to go to bed without dinner, undress to their nakedness, and lay on their bed facing the heaven with their hands behind the pillow. If they performed this ritual their future husband would appear in their dreams. John Keats poem, “The Eve of St. Agnes” is based off of this ritual, which was customary during the middle Ages, even though this poem was written in 1819. During the 19th century, many writers used the Middle Ages as the setting for their works.

In both openings, each poet recognizes the ephemeral element of life. Keats’ fears that he “may cease to be,” while Longfellow reflects, “half of life is gone” (Keats 1; Longfellow 1). Through diction, this trend becomes evident. For example, Keats uses the words, “Huge cloudy symbols,” and “shadows,” indicating almightiness and transcendence (Keats 6, 8). Longfellow too recognizes nature’s power, going even further, capitalizing the words “Past” and “Death” (Longfellow 9, 14). Such capitalization is done out of respect for the power of these words, and further, as a reiteration that the present is determined by the past and the future. In effect, Longfellow realizes that the present is the morphed version of the past and the future, and thus gives no capitalization, or significance, to it. Keats experiences the opposite. He very much endorses the attitude of carpe diem, trying to move on from the past only to be greeted by the grim face of death. By the end of the poem, each poet describes similar circumstances. Keats approaches a shore, while Longfellow ascends a hill to contemplate life. They differ, however, as Keats views a “wide world” replete with literary repute and love, but realizes it is “nothingness” in the bigger picture (Keats 13-14). Thus, he pursues what remains of his opportunities, despite knowing his human insignificance. Conversely, Longfellow sees the “gleaming lights” of an idyllic past with a waterfall of death that will haunt him now and what remains of his future (Longfellow

John Keats was a well established English poet in the early 19th century. His work is greatly influenced by his family, studies, political views, and life experiences. Keats was born October 31st, 1795 in a stable to his devoted parents, Thomas and Frances Keats (15). Before Keats’s twentieth birthday he would experience many hardships from the passing of both of his parents as well as his grandmother. Thomas Keats died in 1804 after an accident occurred while riding his horse, leaving John Keats as the ‘man’ of the house at the young age of nine. Less than five years passed before Frances Keats fell ill and passed after contracting tuberculosis. At a young age Keats experienced great loss and suffering that would linger with him for the entirety

Keats is known for his distinct odes that signify his achievement and accomplishments as a poet. The opposing ideas surrounding the poets causes them to contemplate and understand the world within them.

This poem that I am going to be focusing on is titled "Ode to Autumn",

The twenty-four old romantic poet John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” written in the spring of 1819 was one of his last of six odes. That he ever wrote for he died of tuberculosis a year later. Although, his time as a poet was short he was an essential part of The Romantic period (1789-1832). His groundbreaking poetry created a paradigm shift in the way poetry was composed and comprehended. Indeed, the Romantic period provided a shift from reason to belief in the senses and intuition. “Keats’s poem is able to address some of the most common assumptions and valorizations in the study of Romantic poetry, such as the opposition between “organic culture” and the alienation of modernity”. (O’Rourke, 53) The irony of Keats’s Urn is he likens

Keats was very aware of his own mortality and his poetry reflected the intensity and the passion of a man who didn't have very long to live. His poetry remains some of the densest prose ever penned because, like his brief existence, he had to condense so much life into so little space. The thought of impending death would be enough to make anyone fall into hopeless despair but Keats's incredible talents and commitment to live in the moment perhaps allowed him to three lifetimes.

At one time or another, every person has experienced the beauty of summer. In this time of the year, nature is full of life, the weather is at its finest, and the paramount joys of life can be experienced to their fullest. Then the fall comes, the trees turn lovely shades of red and yellow, and the wind offers a nice chill breeze for relief. Unfortunately, seasons change and the beauty that people once experienced vanishes. People focusing only on the material and petty aspects of life, rather than the beauty around them, will let life pass them, missing out on the true wonders of the world. In his poem “To Autumn,” John Keats utilizes imagery to express the importance of indulging in the beauties of nature, while alive, because humans are mortal beings bound by the limits of time.