To Autumn

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1820

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Authorial Context

Keats wrote “To Autumn” in the twilight of his life. In fact, it was the very last poem written before his death in 1821. “To Autumn” was the last of his “1819 Odes,” a collection of six pieces which would become the most renowned work of his short but brilliant career.

“To Autumn” was written on September 19, 1819, after Keats had returned from a walk near the river Itchen and delighted in the sights and sounds and smells of the season. At this point, the tuberculosis that had taken his mother and brother was beginning to make itself felt. Shortly after composing “To Autumn,” Keats would, at his doctor’s recommendation, move to Rome to live out the last days of his life. He may have been aware at this point that his time with the British landscape was coming to an end in one way or another and was viewing the world with fresh eyes.

The poem represents a season of death and decay, but the author presents it as something to be embraced rather than feared. In one stanza, the personified character of Autumn reaches back towards memories of Spring, but Keats gently admonishes: “Think not of them, thou hast thy music too” (Line 24). This poem is all about being present in the moment, being grateful for the memories of the past without dwelling on them or allowing them to take away from the future. In this way the poem parallels his creative journey, his deep appreciation for the time he has had and the moment he is living in as that journey comes to an end.

Literary Context

John Keats was of the second generation of Romantic-era poets, a movement characterized by greater passion, emotion, and intuitive thought than the first generation. The deep appreciation of the magic within the mundane present in this poem is indicative of his place in this generation, while its sensuality and ability to create beauty from simple, everyday details suggests that Keats was a forerunner of the later aesthetic movement, which would grow through the late 19th century.

As his final major work, “To Autumn” is considered Keats’s most mature poem and the most accomplished in its structure, despite its deviations in form. His collection the “1819 Odes” consisted of this poem along with “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode on Indolence,” “Ode on Melancholy,” “Ode to a Nightingale,” and “Ode to Psyche.” Interestingly, these other five poems were all composed around the same time in the spring of 1819; “To Autumn” was an outlier that was composed half a year later, after Keats focused his summer energy on longer poetic work and writing a play. Although “To Autumn” is considered a part of this collection, it is written in a new, more intimate voice that separates it from the others. It is perhaps the work most closely tied to his experiences and sense of self. His approach to this type of short lyric poem would go on to influence later generations of poets.