To Autumn By John Keats example essay topic

Compare and contrast "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and "To Autumn", by John Keats. In this essay, I will compare two poems written by the famous romantic poem, John Keats. The tow poems are "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and "To Autumn". I will take into account subject matter and theme, the atmosphere and setting, the wording of the poems, rhyme and rhythm and imagery technique. "To Autumn". The title strait away gives us an insight into the poem.

It is obviously about autumn, but there is more to it. This is a poets view of autumn not just anybody's. The title its self brings different images to different people. It might summon the picture of grey skies and biting winds to one person, or bright balmy afternoons to another.

"Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness... ". the opening line of the poem uses the words "mist" and "fruitfulness" for their contrasting nature. Mist is a naturally dark word, mist is commonly associated with horror on the moors and such like. Fruitfulness however is a word full of life and hope. "Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun... ". in comparison the maturing sun is a lot like Keats at this stage of his short life. Coming to the end.

"Conspiring with him to load and bless with fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run... ". this could be a metaphor for a will, as Keats comes to the end of his life he is thinking of what he would have left behind him (apart from the poems). "And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core... ". What ever he does leave behind he wants it to have all been worthwhile. In the next verse, the first line is; "Where are the songs of spring?" referring to the poets earlier life when he had not yet felt the full force of his medical condition. "Think not of them... ". he is telling himself that they don't matter now and what's done is done.

"Thou hast thy music... ". by music he means his poems. His youth is gone now and his poems are all he has left. "Touch the stubble- plains with rosy hue... ". the "stubble plains" touched with a "rosy hue" refers to the pale skin and red cheeks that are a result of the tuberculosis that Keats was infected with. The last three lines of the poem change the mood completely, "Lambs as spirits in heaven Hedge-crickets as angels Swallows twittering in the skies-happiness above... ". Keats perhaps finds it a consolation prize that he will die young without having to become old, after all a lot of people have trouble accepting the inevitable.

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" "O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms" traditionally knights are hero's on a quest of some kind. This mention of a knight could be a metaphor for Keats' own search for something that he is unable to complete due to his illness. In verse three a lily is mentioned, "I see a lily on thy brow" traditionally a lily is the symbol of death, lilies are often the flowers at funerals. "With anguish moist and fever dew... ". these are all imagery sentences that show the knight deteriorating. "And the cheeks a fading rose fast withereth too... ". the rose on the cheek is a blatant reference to Keats' tuberculosis. Red cheeks are one of the symptoms of tuberculosis, and in this line he says that even that last bit of colour is starting to fade.

"I met a lady in the meads, full beautiful- a faery's child" the word faery comes from ancient English legend. The world of faery was separate from our own and was supposed to be inhabited by eerily beautiful yet totally alien people who would play games with the fates and hearts of men and women, not caring abut the affect on their "toy". "I made a garland for her hair and bracelets too... ". the knight is offering flowers as an expression of love (I can't help but laugh at the image of this big tough knight making daisy chains), this is not wise. "She took me to her elfin grot where she wept... ". there's a possibility that this could be a metaphor. Her "elfin grot" could actually be the woman he loves heart opening to him (it could just as easily be something far more incriminating of course).

"And she lulled me to sleep... ". she is luring him into a false sense of security. This is the calm before the storm so to speak. "I saw pale kings and princes too, pale warriors... ". all these men are traditionally brave heroes that never fail. They all tried to get this beautiful woman but death tricked them all. The knight and all these other heroes have failed in their quests.

This may be how Keats felt about his own life, having died so young he never had a chance to accomplish all that he wanted. "Alone and palely loitering... ". this line is how Keats feels about himself. "Alone" because the rest of his family has already succumbed to the illness, pale because he is an inch from death and loitering because he has nothing left in this life but to wait for the inevitable. Both "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and "To Autumn" deal with life and death. Both use metaphors with seasons, feelings and nature to show emotions. Both poems mirror Keats' life and feelings, and in a way he lives on through his work..