“Ode to Autumn” does convey a “oneness with nature” through sensuous images and techniques. Alliteration, personification, imagery, similes, rhetorical questions, enjambment and positive connotations contained in this poem are all techniques that add to this idea.
The alliteration in the line “mists and mellow” adds to the calming imagery represented in this poem. It creates a soft and somewhat tranquil tone. Another example of alliteration is “winnowing wind”. This example also creates a melodious and peaceful timbre, which emphasises the closeness and the love that the persona is having with nature in this poem. This links to the imagery that John Keates uses.
The visual and tactile imagery in this poem is very intimate and creates a very relaxed tone. “Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind” is an example of this visual imagery which sets the scene of this poem while also emphasising the gentle nature of this composition through descriptive words such as “soft-lifted” which gives the poem a calm tone while emphasising and describing the personas ideas of nature. This line can also be classed as personification as the persona is describing Autumn as a woman. This can also set a more intimate scene and can represent the persona’s closeness with nature. It emphasises his point of view that nature really is beautiful. “Close blossom-friend of the maturing sun” is another example of personification which emphasises how the persona may feel intimately connected to Autumn. This line is describing how Autumn and the sun are intimately connected.
The Essay on Emily Dickinson God Poems Nature
Dickinson and her Religion Emily Dickinson was one of the greatest woman poets. She left us with numerous works that show us her secluded world. Like other major artists of nineteenth-century American introspection such as Emerson, Thoreau, and Melville, Dickinson makes poetic use of her vacillations between doubt and faith. The style of her first efforts was fairly conventional, but after years ...
Rhetorical questions are used throughout this poem. For instance “Where are the songs of spring? Where are they?”. This lines shows the personas view that you do not need Spring for nature to be beautiful and that Autumn may be just as good if not better as Spring. It shows that Spring does not have its songs because the persona is thinking of the beauty of Autumn, which does not need Spring’s songs to be beautiful. This also emphasises the persona’s “oneness with nature” as it shows how beautiful each season is, not just Spring. Another example of a rhetorical question is “Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?”. This rhetorical question is used to draw attention to Autumn and tells the responder how beautiful and calm Autumn is.
The simile “sometimes like a gleaner” is used to compare Autumn to a person. It is used to emphasise the last days of Autumn. A gleaner is a person which takes the left overs after a harvest, which may show that the persona is trying to take in as much of the last days of Autumn as he can.
This poem is about the beauty and essential goodness of nature, especially Autumn. It shows that there is always a positive in everything and John Keates may have been thinking of his own death while writing this as he tried to connect his last days with nature. This composition shows the personas connections and entirety with nature through the use of techniques and through the underlying meanings that the poem has.
