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Finished on this day almost 200 years ago, Keats’s poem To Autumn is still one of the greatest poems in the English language because he did not choose words that “fit” but used the best possible words.

As we discussed in a previous article, John Keats relies on alliteration, assonance, and rhyme in To Autumn to create a highly structured poem that reflects the complex unity of the season.

This intense level of organization is not limited to the structure of words but also to the words in themselves.

This article will explore the other aspects of Keats’s language to reveal some of the deeper aspects of autumn and life that he hoped to convey to future generations.

The “Germanic” Tone

Unlike most of his poetry, Keats relies on monosyllabic words of a (mostly) Germanic origin within To Autumn. At first glance, the poem is composed predominantly of monosyllabic words (78.3%): in the first stanza, 71 of the 89 words are monosyllabic (79.8%); in the second stanza, 66 of the 87 words are monosyllabic (75.9%); and, in the final stanza, 72 of 91 words are monosyllabic (79.1%).

By relying on shorter words, the poem creates a feeling of “haste,” allowing more ideas to flow quickly. This is further emphasized by the trimming of words with apostrophes in stanza one and two. The clipping of words suggests the speed in which we move through the spring and summer of our lives while linking the two stanzas in a more concrete manner.

This lexical choice is compounded with an emphasis on infinitives within the first stanza (lines 3, 5, and 7), which separates the word choice within the first stanza from the later two. Metaphorically, the infinitives show the “potential” of action, which attributes the potential of life to autumn in a way traditionally held by spring and summer.

All three stanzas also rely on another method of creating cohesion: hyphens form sets of words, such as “bosom-friend” (2), “soft-lifted” (15), and “stubble-plains” (26). There are 4 sets in the first stanza, 3 sets in the second, and 6 sets in the third. This allows Keats to keep his emphasis on shorter words while still achieving complex ideas. It also emphasizes the interconnection of all words as discussed in the previous article, which represents the interconnections of nature.

Something Missing

In the previous article, we discussed the missing three lines of the traditional sonnet form, which represents the missing “winter” of the poem. There is also a sense of “missing” content within the poem achieved through the use of ellipsis.

In the first stanza, the phrase “conspiring with him to” is removed from each phrase following the first use. In the second stanza, “whoever seeks abroad may find thee” is removed from each phrase following the first. However, there is no certainty of an ellipses within the third stanza, which separates it from the other two stanzas.

This further emphasizes the difference between the “spring”/“summer” and the “autumn” of the poem. Symbolically, the ellipses can be seen to emphasize the “haste” of the first two seasons and represent how people rush through life.

The final two stanzas are also missing an answer. Each begins with a question, although the question in each (who versus where) is different. Although many of these different lexical choices separate the stanzas from the others, they also serve to unite all of the stanzas when combined as a whole.

This could suggest a level of intellectual maturity: during our “spring,” we are hasty and unobservant; during our “summer,” we are also hasty but we begin to ask questions; and, during our “autumn,” we finally slow down as we question our world.

What is Autumn?

We are told by the poem’s title that it is an ode to “Autumn,” but we are only given clues as to who or what autumn is within the poem. Is autumn a season? A personified version of the season? Or something else?

Within the first stanza, the object, autumn, is described as “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” but is never mentioned after the first line. However, the “maturing sun” is referred to as “him” and “bees” are referred to as “they” and “their” at the end of the stanza. This creates a sort of formality when discussing autumn that does not appear in the next stanzas.

The second stanza begins with “thee” and “thy” in reference to autumn. A mysterious “whoever” could find “thee,” which suggests a level of intimate knowledge. Combined with autumn “sitting careless,” “asleep,” simply watching nature suggests an intimate connection between the speaker and autumn.

The use of the “thou” pronoun, as opposed to “ye,” is used to suggest that there exists a personal connection between the speaker and the one addressed in a similar manner to a traditional religious use of the term. This is continued in stanza three, with the second line stating “thou hast thy music too” (24).

Within the third stanza, there are many animals discussed but none of them are given pronominal references. As such, the stanzas transition from a formal relationship between speaker and autumn to a personal one and from a casual to a formal relationship with nature. This pronominal trend establishes a unity between the stanzas while creating a progression of relationships.

Autumn as Potential for Perfection

Keats took special care in choosing his language, and he does not provide autumn with an “active” role within the poem.

The first stanza is dedicated to autumn’s attributes, but autumn is limited to potential activity. The second stanza portrays autumn in various positions of passivity (sitting, sleeping, watching), but this is framed by the word “sometimes” and “may,” which suggests that viewing autumn as it indulges in this passivity is not guaranteed to happen. The third stanza attributes all action to animals that may or may not be acting on the behest of autumn.

The activity found in each stanza suggests is merely a possibility. Thus, autumn is connected to potentiality, which, more specifically, is the potential to become “perfect” or “complete.” Autumn is the season of harvest, but only a crop that is “complete” truly serves when harvested.

In the final stanza, the poem asks, “Where are the songs of spring?” We often think of spring as the “creation” of life, but life without purpose is not true life. Instead, autumn is the season of purpose and fulfillment, the realization of potential itself.

The three stanzas together represent the growth of life, the enjoyment of life’s benefits, and the celebration of life at the end of the journey. Winter, as we explained, is missing from this poem, but winter is not a consideration if one is able to enjoy a “complete” life. In every hint of death there is a hint of creation: during the “soft-dying days” we have the “barred clouds bloom” (25). This suggests that there is no “finality” but one completion will inspire a new form of life, perpetuating the cycle of nature.

The overall tone of the poem is of acceptance, especially of one’s mortality. If autumn is that final time of our lives, then Keats tells us that we can come to completion and rejoice in what we have obtained. Death is not something to fear because death is not a consideration. We can only focus on life, and, if that is not enough, there is always the hint of a new spring that is inspired by our own actions.

Keats created the “perfect” poem to rejoice in the complex unity and beauty of nature that is summarized by the season of autumn. Through extremely careful linguistic choices, every word adds to the tone and meaning of the poem while symbolically representing complex themes.