 Hello and welcome to our video summarising all you need to know about the poem to Autumn by John Keats. My name is Barbara and in this video we will look at the poet himself, John Keats, but also go into depth when it comes to analysing this particular poem. So let's get started. Now let's begin with John Keats himself. He was born in London on the 31st October 1795 and he was the eldest of Thomas and Francis Jenning Keats's four children. Although he himself died at the age of 25, Keats had perhaps the most remarkable career of any English poet. He published only 54 poems in three slim volumes and a few magazines, but over the short development of his life, he took on the challenges of a wide range of poetic forms from the sonnet, to the Spenserian romance, to the Miltonic epic defining anew the possibilities with his own distinctive fusion of earnest energy, control of conflicting perspectives and forces, poetic self-consciousness and occasionally some dry, ironic wit. Now when it comes to the poem itself, to Autumn. This is one of Keats' most sensual image-laden poems. It's a sumptuous description of the season of Autumn in a three stanza structure, each of 11 lines and of an A, B, A, B rhyme scheme. The first stanza deals primarily with the atmosphere of Autumn, while the second addresses Autumn in the start of a female goddess with the trace of the homemaker about her. The third stanza goes back to the beauty of Autumn, advising her not to mourn the loss of springtime for there's ample life in Autumn. Now let's look at each stanza in a bit more depth. Now when we look at the first stanza, firstly Keats has always been considered as writing this poem on the senses, but in this final work it becomes clear why his attribute is so strongly tied to him. Now the first stanza of to Autumn is a celebration itself of Autumn and it uses lots of these senses that Keats is known for. Note the generous and gorgeous long-vowled imagery within this poem which accompanies the writing. The reference to abundance. Although Autumn has been taken in much of British literature as the start of death and as a melancholy time, actually Keats has taken it here in this poem and in this first stanza as a really fruitful period of existence. There's strong evidence of energy and beauty in the poem and to quote it states, with the fruit finds that round the attach eyes run, to bend with apples the most gotchard trees. Now the atmosphere that's created in this first stanza is ultimately one of peacefulness. That's not to say there isn't an undercurrent of misery running through the poem, of course there is, however it's really beautifully conveyed. The idea for instance of being full of ripeness to the core produces the parallel imagery of a climax and this is the ultimate glory of Autumn, the last hurrah, before the freezing grip of winter. The flow of sibilant sounds in lines 9 to 11 of this first stanza create an easy flowing rhythm. However the reader also gets the sense that Keats is building up something really grand. Note the relaxed tone of voice. Keats was never considered as one of the high brow poets. In fact he was criticised for his adherence to simple language and he believed quite honestly that poetry didn't need to be complicated and over and he believed more than anything in its simplicity and this is reflected into Autumn. Even the imagery in this poem is really clear cut and it's something that Keats occasionally struggled with in some of his more previous poems. Now in the second stanza the feeling of freedom is accentuated and here Keats leans in closer. He does not view Autumn from a wider perspective. Instead he personifies the season itself to make it perhaps easier for the reader to empathise with this season that he's so painstakingly bringing to life. In the second stanza Autumn is viewed as a fertile female goddess however like and to quote the fairies child in La Belle d'Amsan's Merci which is another poem that he's written there remains a hint of cruelty to Autumn as a woman. Keats's darkotomy of beautiful women with an edge of cruelty to them is hardly something staggering. In fact it's one of the ideas that's brought up quite strongly in his poetry and particularly also in this poem and it could be because Keats himself was unlucky in love so he drew on his experiences to draft the women in his poems. Here in this stanza it is a word hook that provides much of the idea that Autumn is a cruel and kind woman although hook is a harsh implement a sound of war the very next line is and to quote spares the next swath with all its twined flowers and it implies a sense of fairness and kindness. The use of the phrase oozing also implies a certain level of cruelty. There's a sinister drawn out sound to the word which makes it seem far more threatening than the previous few lines. Now in the third stanza which is the final stanza Keats addresses Autumn herself physically implying that Autumn is mourning the loss of spring and considers herself at odds with her far more beautiful counterpart. Keats writes and to quote from the poem Think not of them thou hast thou music too explaining that Autumn is just as beautiful as spring and perhaps even more so. He shows this by diving again into gorgeous imagery describing the sun setting over the land the stubbed land and the insects that come out at night the animals that were born in springtime and are now full grown and the birds that one can find in Autumn. However as with all of Keats's poems that melancholy shows up again in the last stanza as Keats's use of the words such as soft dying and rosy implies a bloody end despite his best illusions to the contrary. Now throughout the poem Keats alludes to the pastoral tradition in poetry a form of poetic writing that celebrates the idea of the countryside and focuses primarily on the description of the surroundings. Although one of the simplest of Keats's poems and one of the quietest in terms of plot it remains one of his most lauded works although nothing much happens in it it is after all just following on from the pastoral tradition. However the beauty of his language and the skill of his mastery shows that Keats's talent was really just beginning at the time of his death.