To Autumn
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;Conspiring with him how to load and blessWith fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shellsWith 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-brimm'd their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may findThee sitting careless on a granary floor,Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hookSpares the next swath and all its twined flowers:And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keepSteady thy laden head across a brook;Or by a cyder-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 mournAmong the river sallows, borne aloftOr sinking as the light wind lives or dies;And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble softThe red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- winnowing n.
- The act of one who, or that which, winnows.
- fume n.
- Exhalation; volatile matter (esp. noxious vapor or smoke) ascending in a dense body; smoke; vapor; reek; as, the fumes of tobacco. [L. fumus; akin to Skr. dh smoke, dh to shake, fan a flame, cf. Gr. fum smoke, F. fumée. Cf. Dust, n., Femerell, Thyme.]
- gleaner n.
- One who gathers after reapers.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- wailful a.
- Sorrowful; mournful.
- bleat v. i.
- To make the noise of, or one like that of, a sheep; to cry like a sheep or calf. [OE. bleten, AS. bl; akin to D. blaten, bleeten, OHG. blazan, plazan; prob. of imitative origin.]
- hilly a.
- Abounding with hills; uneven in surface; as, a hilly country.
- bourn n.
- A stream or rivulet; a burn. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. burn, v., because the source]
- twitter n.
- One who twits, or reproaches; an upbraider. [From Twit.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Autumn is in the public domain. This text is taken from Keats: Poems Published in 1820 (Clarendon Press, 1909, ed. M. Robertson), Project Gutenberg ebook #23684; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Keats, To Autumn, in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #23684, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1820/to-autumn.html, id L00191.
Form and metre
To Autumn is 33 lines in 3 stanzas of 11 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDECDDE, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, as Wikipedia: To Autumn has it. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDEDC-E fruitfulnessA · sunB · blessA · runB · treesC · coreD · shellsE · moreD · beesC · cease · cellsE
- 2 ABABCDECDDE storeA · findB · floorA · windB · asleepC · hookD · flowersE · keepC · brookD · lookD · hoursE
- 3 ABABCDECDDE theyA · tooB · dayA · hueB · mournC · aloftD · diesE · bournC · softD · croftD · skiesE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Conspiring with him how to load and bless | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; | 10 | ·········· |
| To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And still more, later flowers for the bees, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Until they think warm days will never cease, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find | 10 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; | 11 | ···/˘··/·˘· |
| Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Steady thy laden head across a brook; | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/·· |
| Or by a cyder-press, with patient look, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/·/˘ |
| Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? | 10 | ·········· |
| Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, | 10 | ··˘····/˘· |
| And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Among the river sallows, borne aloft | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 5
Introduction and notes by M. Robertson, Keats: Poems Published in 1820 (Clarendon Press, 1909).
- Stanza 2, line 7 swath, the width of the sweep of the scythe.
- Stanza 3, line 1 seq. Now the sounds of autumn are added to complete the impression.
- Stanza 3, line 3 Compare letter quoted above.
- Stanza 3, line 6 sallows, trees or low shrubs of the willowy kind.
- Stanza 3, line 6 borne . . . dies. Notice how the cadence of the line fits the sense. It seems to rise and fall and rise and fall again.
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