Keat's analysis

Keat’s Analysis

To Autumn

This is yet another poem about the seasons that we encounter.  I like the spring and summer.  I am not a fan of winter and love the colors of autumn.  I liked to pick out lines or words that really struck home when Keat’s describes the feeling of Autumn.  I will describe my analysis of the words that I find have strong meaning.

“Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;”

*this could imply a flower or plant that has already bloomed and has been in the sun for quite some time.  The sun is mature and the blossom is closed and ready for the winter.

“And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells”

*This stanza suggests that it is at the end of the growing season as the fruit is ripe to the core.  It implies the gourd is swollen and will start its decay as the colder winter sets in.

“And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,”

*The last flowers are blooming and the bees are still out gathering nectar.  They are out until the weather gets colder and they have to hibernate.

“Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,---
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;”

*The author is asking where the spring went as he sees winter quickly approaching.  It seems that Keats listens to the music of the springtime with the birds chirping, the bugs buzzing, and the newness of plants emerging from their sleep.  He also talks about the setting clouds that are dying for the day.  The sky turns from its cool colors to warm colors as the sun goes down.

“Then in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn…
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,”

*I think the Keates saved the best for last in this poem.  I love the way he describes all the animals and insects.  When someone thinks of autumn in a country, they associate the sounds of the animals with the setting.  I can hear the lambs, crickets, and birds on an autumn twilight settling in for the winter.

A Song About Myself

What I found fascinating about this poem is that the word song is in the title.  I read through it once then went back and tried to sing the poem.  I liked the repetition of the line “There was a naughty boy, and a naughty boy was he….”.  It seems like a nursery rhyme like Mary Had a Little Lamb.

I also visualized this boy, like a lot of boys, on an adventure.  He would not stay at home and would not be quiet.  He took a backpack filled with clothes, towels, brushes, socks, and a cap.  He liked to write poetry and run through the mountains pretending there were witches and ghosts.  He would keep little fishes that he would use for bait and wake up early in the morning to fish.

The poem ends with the boy running away from Scottland to discover life.  He sings and looks at nature as he strolls around the countryside.  He is left to wonder about life.  I thought “What would he be wondering about?” and then I tried to see the world as a boy would.  I think he would start to feel lonely and hungry and start to head back home.  Along the way, he would collect more little boy materials like rocks, sticks, and maybe a lizard or two.

Endymion

But this is human life:  the war, the deeds,
The disappointment, the anxiety,
Imagination's struggles, far and nigh,
All human; bearing in themselves this good,
That they are still the air, the subtle food,
To make us feel existence, and to shew
How quiet death is.
from Endymion, Book II, l.153-159.

This yet another one of Keat’s poems that is profound and striking with just a few sentences.  Each sentence has a major impact on the perception of human life.  The first line “But this is human life: the war, the deed, the disappointment, the anxiety” grabs our attention as most humans can relate to what is being said.  Humans experience war either through the television or someone in one of the military branches.  The deed refers to work and we all do work of some sort.  Everyone will face disappointment eventually as well as getting upset and feeling stress.  The next line states “Imagination’s struggles, far and nigh, all human bearing in themselves this good, that they are still the air, the subtle food” which shows the technological changes I believe.  “Imagination struggles” which means to me that everything is done for us.  A computer makes it possible to get all of our spelling correct, cell phones take away any meeting of our friends face to face, and video games are already full of violent imagination.  “All human; bearing in themselves this good” refers to either the goodness all humans have in them or the conceited nature thinking we have no faults. The ending gives us all a wakeup call as it acknowledges our existence, our sins and ultimately our death.  It has a powerful ending which is expected for such a powerful poem by Keat’s.

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
    Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
    A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunt about thy shape
    Of deities or mortals, or of both,
        In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
    What men or gods are these?  What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit?  What struggle to escape?
        What pipes and timbrels?  What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
    Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
    Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
    Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
        Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal - yet, do not grieve;
        She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
    For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
    Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
    For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
    For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
        For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
    That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
        A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
    To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
    And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
    Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
        Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
    Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
        Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape!  Fair attitude! with brede
    Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
    Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
    When old age shall this generation waste,
        Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
    Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

     Being an artist myself, I pulled up images in my head when it referenced a Grecian Urn.  The first stanza talks about the way in which Keat’s sees the urn with “Flowery tale” and “deities or mortals or both”.  Grecians used their gods on the outside painting of the urn as well as others that tell a story of sorts.  In this stanza he is asking “what men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild extasy?”.  He clearly sees a story unfolding and wonders what is happening.  Who are these people?  What are they doing?

     He ends the poem with a thought provoking statement “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”.  I think what this is saying is that how can someone look at the vase and see anything but beauty.  “Beauty is truth” in the sense that it is in front of you and it is true to life.  Look at the beauty… look at the truth…..how can you miss either in this urn?  It reminds me of looking at a rose.  Who can say “That is ugly!”?  I don’t think many people would.  It is the truth and there is no denying it.  Just as anyone would look at it and question the story behind it.  Humans are the same and he ends with “Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”.  I think what he is implying is look for the beauty…. What more do you need to know?