|
|
Article: Keats's "To Autumn".(19th-century poet John Keats)(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- The Explicator
- Article date:
- March 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
What John Keats's poem "To Autumn" is about has been much discussed. The reading that I usually give the poem in classes is that of a progression--the first stanza a depiction of the autumn harvest, the second an address to three personifications of autumn, and the third a confrontation with the end of the year, perhaps an acceptance of death. Hartman's ideological reading of the poem attempts to establish a place for it in poetic tradition. More recent readings have explored the interplay of speakers in the poem (Gaillard) and the influences of Shakespeare (Flesch) and Spenser (Scheill).
A more vexed issue, however, may be a more technical one involving the way ...