John Keats was born in 1795 in
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.
John Keats wrote Bright Star to compare his love to all the splendors of the world. He compares her to “The moving waters at their priestlike task…”(Keats, 5) and “…the new soft-fallen mask Of snow upon the mountains and the moors.” (Keats, 7-8), which are all beautiful spectacles in nature. In the middle of the poem he has a change from describing beautiful things in nature to how they fail in comparison to her, “No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable…”(Keats, 11). He is resting his head on her chest while she sleeps and is “Awake for ever in a sweet unrest” (Keats, 13) as he feels her fall and swell as she breaths. I believe the title of the poem is actually symbolizing his love being his bright star because he is “…watching, with eternal lids apart,”(Keats, 2) his girl just as he said he would watch a bright star.
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 mossed cottage-trees,
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,
For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell.
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;
Or on a half-reaped 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;
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,
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;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
John Keats wrote Ode to Autumn because after seeing the poem, the reader understands the deep love for autumn that Keats has. Keats begins as describing autumn as the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness…”(Keats, 1). The reader is given a sense of relaxation and pleasure which really grasps the feelings of the season. “Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;…” (Keats, 14-15), provokes senses that anyone can feel such as the wind lifting your hair with a calm breeze or finding comfort laying in the grass. He describes the “cider press” (Keats, 21) which gives the reader a taste of apple cider in the fall. After describing “Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft”(Keats, 31) and “The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,”(Keats, 32) Keats knows he has gotten his point across of why autumn is such a splendid season because of his vivid imagery which really provokes the senses of the reader.
The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper's--he takes the lead
In summer luxury,--he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.
John Keats wrote his poem On the Grasshopper and Cricket because he feels as though the grasshopper and the cricket are constantly chirping and singing to make sure “The poetry of earth is never dead...” (Keats, 1). He is amazed how even “When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,” (Keats, 2) and “On a lone winter evening, when the frost Has wrought a silence” (Keats, 10-11) the grasshoppers and crickets continue their symphony to the world. He writes how it is a calming melody that soothes and warms people even in the coldest times of winter. The grasshopper and cricket are with the people year round as opposed to birds migrating in the winter. The grasshopper can be found in the “new-mown mead” (Keats, 3) in the summer and in “the stove” in the winter. He describes them as poets because he can appreciate their consistency at working at their songs.
Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring's honied cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness--to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.
John Keats writes The Human Seasons because he feels as though every season is comparable to a human emotion. He gives the reader a brief but in depth description of each season and shows how it pertains to a certain emotion humans feel. For example, “Spring, when fancy clear Takes in all beauty with an easy span:” (Keats, 2-3). Keats uses symbolism with the seasons to go beyond the literal meaning of spring, and infer that spring conveys a very easy and outgoing emotion. Spring is birth and life again from Winter. Summer describes a very youthful personality. It is a time of dreaming and exploring. Autumn portrays a relaxed personality. It is a time to sit back and take in the surrounding beauty. Winter is a distasteful personality, but is comforting because it allows people to look forward to the transition of Spring, or more positive personalities. In this poem, John Keats is able to look beyond the literal nature of seasons and provide a profound insight into human nature.