The Appreciation of Ode to Autumn 赏析《秋颂》

The Appreciation of Ode to Autumn
----- G1******* 倪静
12级英语三班Ode to Autumn
--John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, a
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; b
Conspiring with him how to load and bless a
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; b
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, c
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; d
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells e
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, d
And still more, later flowers for the bees, c
Until they think warm days will never cease, c
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells. e
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? a
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find b
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, a
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; b
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, c
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook d
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: e
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep c
Steady thy laden head across a brook; d
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look, d
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours. e
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? a
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,— b
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, a
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; b
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn c
Among the river sallows, borne aloft d
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; e
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; c
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft d
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; d
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. e
1. The analysis of the content:
The poem is divided into three stanzas: the fist stanza describes the scenery in autumn; the second stanza describes the people in autumn; and the last stanza describes the sound in autumn.
In the first stanza, the poet describes scenery of good harvest. He pays attention to the ripe fruits such as grape, apple, gourd and hazel. In the second stanza, the poet shows a warm scene through a man’s behaviors in the harvest season such as sitting careless on a granary floor, having a sound asleep on a half-reap'd furrow and so on. As for the last stanza, the poet displays the sound in autumn by listening to the mourn of the small gnats, loud bleat of full-grown lambs, sing of the Hedge-crickets, whistles from a garden-croft and twitter of gathering swallows in the skies.
2. The basic feature of this poetry:
(1) It belongs to iambic pentameters.
(2) In terms of Rhyme, its rhyming scheme of the first stanza is abab cde dcc e and the remaining two stanzas are abab cde cdd e, which embodies the beauty of changing. Besides, the poetry contains beginning rhyme, assonance and end rhyme. These make the poem sound smooth and catchy.
3. The use of images:
The poet uses concrete Visual image (“round the thatch-eaves”,”to bend withapples” and so on), Olfactory image (“Drows? dwith the fume of poppies”), Gustatory image(sweetkernel,ripeness to the core and so on), Tactile
image(”soft-lifted”, ”winnowing wind” and so on),Auditory image(“gna ts mourn”, ”ful-grown lambs loud bleat and so on) to draw the scenery of the Autumn. The full use of images make readers feel at the scene.
4. In rhetorical device, this poem is rich in Lexical Stylistic Devices, Syntactical Stylistic Devices and Phonetic Stylistic Devices.
(1) Lexical Stylistic Devices:Metaphor and Personification：“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun”, it regards autumn and sun as friends.
(2) Syntactical Stylistic Devices:Rhetorical Question: “Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy tore? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find” and “Where are the songs of Spring? Aye, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too-“. The poet attempts to set up a bridge between him and readers.
(3) Phonetic Stylistic Devices: Alliteration: “mists” and “mellow” in the first line;“fill” a nd “fruit” in the sixth line. It makes the poem sound catchy.
Onomatopoeia: ”wailful” ”bleat” ”twit t er” and so on.。