Ode: To Autumn (summary with analysis)

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Detailed summary of John Keats’s poem “To Autumn” along with all its text lines

Stanza 1:

1. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
2. Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
3. Conspiring with him how to load and bless
4. With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
5. To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
6. And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
7. To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
8. With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
9. And still more, later flowers for the bees,
10. Until they think warm days will never cease,
11. For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Summary of Stanza 1:

Keats opens the poem by praising autumn as a season full of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Autumn is portrayed as a close companion of the maturing sun, working together to ripen fruits and bless the earth with abundance. The imagery is rich and sensuous:

  • Lines 1–2: Autumn is introduced as gentle and fruitful, working closely with the sun.
  • Lines 3–4: Autumn and the sun plan together to ripen the vines that grow around the roofs of cottages.
  • Lines 5–6: Apple trees are so full of fruit that their branches bend. All the fruit is ripened completely.
  • Lines 7–8: Gourds are swollen, hazelnuts are filled with sweet kernels, and even more flowers bloom late in the year.
  • Lines 9–11: Bees are so busy collecting nectar from these flowers that they think summer will never end. Their honeycombs are overflowing.

This stanza emphasizes abundance, ripeness, and the climax of growth—the very heart of autumn’s richness.

Stanza 2:

12. Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
13. Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
14. Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
15. Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
16. Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
17. Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
18. Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
19. And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
20. Steady thy laden head across a brook;
21. Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
22. Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Summary of Stanza 2:

This stanza personifies autumn as a calm, gentle woman involved in the harvest. Keats imagines seeing her in various peaceful scenes of rural life.

  • Line 12: Keats asks, who hasn’t seen Autumn among the harvest?
  • Line 13–14: She may be seen sitting idly on the floor of a grain store, surrounded by the gathered crops.
  • Line 15: The wind gently lifts her hair, adding a soft, dreamy effect.
  • Line 16–18: Sometimes Autumn is so drowsy, under the influence of poppy-scented air, that she falls asleep in a half-harvested field, letting her sickle rest while she dreams.
  • Line 19–20: She is like a gleaner (a person who collects leftover crops) walking across a brook with a heavy load.
  • Line 21–22: Or she watches patiently by a cider-press as the juice from apples slowly drips for hours.

This stanza gives a peaceful, almost sleepy tone, emphasizing stillness, labor, and quiet beauty.

Stanza 3:

23. Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
24. Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
25. While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
26. And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
27. Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
28. Among the river sallows, borne aloft
29. Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
30. And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
31. Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
32. The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
33. And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Summary of Stanza 3:

Keats now addresses the sounds of autumn, which might seem quiet compared to spring—but they have their own beauty.

  • Line 23: He wonders where the songs of Spring have gone.
  • Line 24: But tells Autumn not to worry—she has her own music.
  • Lines 25–26: As the sun sets, barred clouds turn golden and pink, lighting up the harvested fields.
  • Line 27–29: The sound of gnats, rising and falling with the breeze near river willow trees, becomes like a choir mourning the day’s end.
  • Line 30: Lambs bleat loudly on hills.
  • Line 31: Hedge-crickets chirp.
  • Line 32: The robin sings softly in gardens.
  • Line 33: Swallows gather and chirp in the sky, preparing to migrate.

The stanza brings a musical farewell to the season—there’s a calm melancholy and acceptance of the cycle of life. Autumn’s music is soft, reflective, and beautiful in its own quiet way.

Conclusion:

John Keats’s “To Autumn” is a rich and vivid celebration of the autumn season. The poem moves from the abundance of harvest, to personified images of Autumn as a serene figure, and ends with the gentle music of the fading year. It reflects Keats’s love for nature, beauty, and sensory detail, and it's often seen as a symbol of maturity, peace, and acceptance of life’s cycles.


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