Question

3. How has the poet portrayed the summer season in the to autumn poem?


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Answer 1

TO AUTUMN

• This is the last and the most impeccable Ode that Keats wrote. It was written on 19th September, 1819, and published in the Lamia volume in 1820.
• The Ode to Autumn exhibits the principal of beauty in nature. Here Keats has nicely portrayed the summer season in the 'To Autumn' poem. The first stanza gives us sensual beautiful pictures of the autumnal fruits and flowers - grapes, apples, gourds, nuts to ripen and become sweet and juicy. "Later flowers" blossom in this season and bees go on sucking honey out of them till they begin to think that summer is yet continuing and will never come to an end. So the poet writes, " Until they think warm days will never cease / For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their calmmy cells." The poet has painted the beautiful picture of furrow, gleaner, brook and cyderpress. We the reader through the text also can hear the song of cricket and twittering of swallows.

Answer 2

Keats' poem 'To Autumn' is a poem dedicated to the season of autumn, but has a brief direct mention and some indirect references to summer as well.

The lines that directly refer to summer are:

'Until they think warm days will never cease,

For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.'

(There are three things to remember here:

1. Summer is a busy season.

2. Conveys the timeline of seasons.

3. Autumn completes the work started in summer.)

(1. Summer as a busy season)

The words 'warm days' suggest summers. The poet talks about how 'they', meaning the bees have been busy collecting honey during summer. The beehive is overflowing with honey. So, summer has been described as an active work season.

(2. Summer-autumn timeline)

Further, summer has been portrayed in connection with autumn. The lines suggest that summer has already gone by, but the bees still think that it is summertime, because there is warmth in autumn too. The reference to summer conveys the timeline of the various seasons and also shows a continuity of warmth in the sun, though the temperatures may gradually fall.

(3. Summer by itself is not enough)

Additionally, Keats' states that summer by itself cannot achieve what autumn does. Though the fruits and vegetables start growing in summer, it is autumn that has the power to ripen them.So, autumn continues the work of the summer. Indirectly, the poet suggests that autumn works on the gourd and hazelnut shells that have been growing in the summer and ripens them, making them ready for consumption.

Summer thus is an active season that comes before autumn, but it is autumn that completes the work started by summer. Autumn may seem more calm and not as busy as summer, but its power cannot be underestimated.

(Please do not answer in the point form. This is only for easy understanding. Use paragraphs to structure your answer. Each point should be written as a seperate paragraph.)