An Imagery Scene of Autumn in Keats’ Mind

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【Abstract】In the Romantic Movement in English literature many poems， written by William Wordsworth， John Keats and some of the other poets in the Romantic period， reflect the main features of closeness to nature， spontaneity in thought， value of symbol and experience of imagery. They are not only pleasant to the ear and pregnant to the meaning but also， especially in Keats’ poetry， rich in imagery， highly sensuous. This paper makes a brief study of the poetic imagery perceived in John Keats’ “To autumn”， leading us to a further and deeper understanding of both the poem and the poet.

【Key words】imagery； tactile imagery； visual imagery； auditory imagery

1. Keats’ “ To Autumn” and its Poetic Imagery

1.1 Poetic Imagery and Qualities of “ To Autumn”

“ To Autumn” is considered as Keats’ finest nature poem by many readers， which is typical of his writing in terms of imagery as well as some of the main qualities.

To Autumn Imagery and figures of speech

1

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness，

― all senses， ‘ mists and mellow… of the maturing’，

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun；

― alliteration； personification；

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run；

― sight； ‘ the …that…the…thatch’， alliteration；

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees，

― sight

And fill and fruit with ripeness to the core；

― sight； taste； ‘fill and fruit’， alliteration；

To swell the gourd， and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel’ to set budding more，

― taste；

And still more， later flowers for the bees，

― sound ； scent

Until they think warm days will never cease，

Fore summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

― touch

2

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store？

― sight

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor，

― sight； personification；

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind；

― a thresher（per）； ‘winnowing wind’（alli.）；

Or on a half-reap’d fume sound asleep，

Drows’d with the fume of poppies， while thy hook

― scent；

Spare the next swath and all its twined flowers：

― a reaper（ per）； ‘ Spare …swath’ （alli）；

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

― a gleaner（per）；

Steady they laden head across a brook；

Or by a cider-press， with patient look，

― a cider-maker（per）；

Thou watchest the last oozing hours by hours.

3

Where are the songs of spring？ ay， where are they？

― auditory， ‘ songs of spring’ （alli；0；

Think not of them， thou hast thy music too，

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day，

― ‘barred…bloom’（alli）；

And touch the stubble-plains with； rosy hue；

― touch；

Then in a waiful choir the small gnats mourn

― musical sound；

Among the river sallows， borne aloft

Or sinking as the light lives or dies；

―‘light lives’ （alli）；

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn；

― sound； ‘ lambs loud’， （alli）；

Hedge-crickets sing； and now with treble soft

― sound；

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft；

―sound；

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

― sound

（《英文史及选读》Vol.2， 吴伟仁，1996）

1.2 Poetic Imagery Discussion of Each Stanza

When speaking of images in Keats’ “To Autumn”， it can generally be divided into three imagery pictures according to my personal reading of it. This sensory experience is a touch （tactile imagery， as mostly a perception of the golden autumn in Stanza 1） ， a sight （visual imagery， as in Stanza 2）， and a sound （auditory imagery in Stanza 3）. In other words， the readers can experience a perception of roughness or smoothness， a perception of wonderful sight-seeing and a perception of musical breathing of golden autumn. “As a good photographer， Keats chooses a few typical wording or resting postures of people in autumn to vivify the image of autumn.”（ 谭立坚，1999）

Tactile Imagery

In the first image， Stanza l， Keats skillfully appeals to all our senses in the description of autumn to state most of the qualities of autumn which are always being praised. Such wording or description as “fruitfulness”， “ripeness” and “o’er-brimm’d” stimulates us to all senses-related perception， especially the tactile imagery， a perfect golden-colored， richCharvested picture， is painted and presented. In order to call the readers’ attention to “autumn” at the first sight， Keats uses writing devices as personification， alliteration and some other figures of speech to depict and state what perfect autumn in his lines in more literal language. “Autumn is personified as the maturing sun’s friend， who conspires with him to fill vines and branches with various fruit. In Keats’ mind ， autumn looks like a productive lady who has given birth to lots of lovely babies with the help of Apollo， god of the Sun.” （谭立坚，1999） That means autumn and the Sun work together to ripen mellow fruits of autumn. Then， “And still more， later flowers for the bees，…” makes the readers achieve musical sound from bees and obtain sweet-smelling scent from flowers， which if more powerful in the company of meaning. The sounding and smelling can contribute greatly to a poem’s effect. When reading Stanza 1， one may easily have a picture of combination of sight， taste， sound， etc. as a whole. Furthermore， euphony as meaning is also skillfully used to achieve the effect， pleasing mind and ear， in the poem， with the help of the verbs （“load”， “bend” “fill”， “sell”， “plump” and “over-brim”）， describing the busy harvest and the sound of “s”， suggesting the swishing of movement.

Visual Imagery

Autumn is made human， and a personification extends throughout this whole poem. In Stanza 2 Keats especially states autumn humanly in details with visual imagery， making progress from tactile ones. he personifies autumn in the traditional activities of the season in four ways， each associated with a different aspect of harvest-time： as a thresher， as a reaper， as a gleaner， and a cider-maker. Here the poet speaks of “seeing” autumn to emphasize the particular quality of autumn’s attractive scene throughout this stanza. It seems as though the readers see the sight of the whole process of harvest in/by their own eyes full of imagination. As in this poem an image can convey a flash of understanding and cause a reader to fully experience a golden and sweet and even a live sensory impression. Nature， in Keats’ mind and description， is general， and autumn is lifeblood with dream and hope. What elements of autumn does keats mention in this stanza？ ― The busy harvest activities that anyone can see. Such busy activities of autumn as threshing， reaping， gleaning and cider-making are suggesting a real kind of motivation for carrying on a golden harvest. Farmers are threshing for wheat and rice， movement with hope； Farmer are reaping for cutting and gathering a crop or grain as harvest， as a good result of a year， namely to reap the reward of year with joy and merriment. They are gleaning， picking up elements of happiness. They are cider-making， squeezing the juice from fruits， squeezing the juice for the whole year， for all people. The four listing activities are suggesting the fruitful and colorful and wonderful development of the harvest season， the reward of the year. What a sight！ what a visual imagery！

Auditory Imagery

This move is to consider the effects of this poeticization： The distinctive features of the poem and the reading into them. In this case， it might be remarked， the perceptions of sights and sounds are recorded as sets of notes which are arranged in the patterning of prosodic form. （ H.G. Widdowson， 1992）

Stanza 3 affirms that the music of autumn is more beautiful than that of spring in Keats’ view and description. In this stanza “late in the afternoon or near to the evening of the day” is described with “musical” examples of “a waiful choir＼gnats mourn＼lambs loud bleat＼Hedge-crickets sing＼red-breast whistles＼swallows twitter”， comparing with commonlyCthought singing quality of symbolic meaning. One is the early beginning of a year while the other is near the end of the year. On the one hand， poems are easy to remember when they are attached to musical imager. On the other hand， “songs tend to be written in language simple enough to be understood on first hearing.” （Song， Poetry， Beijing Normal University， P.109.2002） Therefore， careful readers would pay close attention to both the words and the auditory imagery through the examples of the “music” of autumn that can be specifically identified in this stanza. The fragment between lines in this stanza is just like an imaginary conversation between human and nature， talking their pleasant speech to each other. Such wonderful auditory imagery is viewed， for Keats is really an outstanding singer of nature. The imagery， again， is that such derivation can help readers to appreciate the distinctive nature of the poem and the kind of reading that it calls for in the interpretation of its significance. The activities in second stanza might make a selection of details from the description and then get development of “climax” in stanza 3， going with how the imagery in stanza 3 that might be incorporated with the first two stanzas as a whole of a poetic version.

2. Final Remarks

Poetry to Keats is a fine art that makes the depiction of poetry an end in itself. By reading some Keats’ poems of nature， one can perceive that Keats’ ideal life is in his pursuits of love of human and nature. However， Keats’ attitude towards life is to some extent melancholy. His poetry reflects his search for beauty in art and nature on the one hand， while on the other hand， it also reflects his concern at the transitory nature of life.

References：

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作者简介：陈永亮（1963-），男，贵州沿河人，1963年生，中山职业技术学院英语教师，外国语言文学副教授。研究方向：语言学、商务英语教学和翻译学。