Delhi Public School B.S.City Class-VIII English E-Content Date: 07-04-2020

ODE TO AUTUMN - John Keats Read it aloud - SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, 5 And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease; 10 For summer has o'erbrimm'd their clammy cells. Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; 15 Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; 20 Or by a cider-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

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 25 And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn Among the river-sallows , borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn ; 30 Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft ; And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. (Read it aloud twice and then try and understand )

About the author

John Keats (1795-1821) was one of the chief romantic poets and authored famous poems such as Endymion, Bright star etc. He was counted as a major poet after Wordsworth. He belonged to the second generation of romantic poets like Lord Byron and P.B.shelley. He wrote for a very short duration and became very famous. Some of his majorly known poems are Ode to a Nightingale, Ode to a Grecian Urn, Ode to autumn etc. The themes of keats’ works were love, beauty, joy, nature, music and the mortality of human life .

● Popularity- Popularity: Written by John Keats, a popular romantic poet, ‘To Autumn’ is a phenomenal ode that celebrates the beauty and grandeur of the autumn season. It was first published in 1819. The poem explores the phenomenon of the fall season appreciatively. Its popularity lies in the representation of many things related to life and nature.

THINK- EVER THOUGHT WHY SEASONS CHANGE? WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE SEASON?

EXPLANATION OF THE POEM First stanza Throughout the poem, the speaker addresses autumn as if it were a person. In the first stanza, he notes that autumn and the sun are like best friends plotting how to make fruit grow and how to ripen crops before the harvest. The ripening process discussed will make the seeds heavy and fall off. The seeds will fall and the spring flowers will grow. This chain will continue and the whole process starting over again. They think summer can last forever as they buzz around the flowers. But it is the poet who knows better.

Second Stanza The second stanza describes the period after the harvest, when autumn just hangs out around the granary where harvested grains are kept. Most of the hard work has already been done, and autumn can just take a nap in the fields, walk across brooks, or watch cider being made.

Third stanza In the third stanza, the speaker notes that the music of spring is a distant memory, but that autumn’s music is pretty cool too. This music includes images of clouds and harvested fields at sunset, gnats flying around a river, lambs bleating, crickets singing and birds whistling and twittering. All of the sights and sounds produce a veritable symphony of beauty.

Connotation:- • The speaker briefly describes the season and immediately jumps into personifying it suggesting that autumn and the sun are old pals. • Mists often accompany chilly weather because the moisture in the air condenses into droplets when it’s cold. • Autumn is a close friend of the sun, who is maturing as the year goes on. • A bosom friend is like that friend you told all your secrets to in junior high. • They are planning to make the fruits grow. • The apples bend down the branches of mossy trees with their weight. The trees do not belong to some big farming sector but to simple farmers. • Gourds include things like squash, pumpkins etc. • The fallen seeds will later turn into new plants and flowers when spring comes again. • The bees are like prisoners inside of clammy cells, they take the flower’s nectar. • The word store suggests the abundance of crops. • Winnowing is to separate the grain from the chaff. • The day is dying at sunset but it’s not a tragic or violent death. It’s soft and gentle. • The sound of the gnats contributes to the song of autumn. • Crickets are singing by rubbing their wings together otherwise known as chirping. • (Continued)

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