“The portrayal of time in “To Autumn””

Rosemary Porter
March 5, 2003
Professor Spence
English 1102

Autumn is the third season of the year and has been associated with many depressing times. Autumn has also defined as the “season of early decay.” The phrase, “Autumn Years”, means the final years of someone’s life. John Keats portrays his feelings on how this season is affected by be the idea of death in the poem, “To Autumn.” He uses the season, autumn, to show how the change of the season is closely related to the change of life. He explains his reasons by comparing life to a harvest in three stanzas. Each stanza represents birth, life, and death. Throughout the poem, time progresses slowly like the seasons. Keats uses time and autumn to reveal that life can be beautiful, but also short; so enjoy it, and to remember that everything in life has a purpose.

“The season of mists and mellow fruitlessness,” in the first stanza represents early autumn, the beginning of life. He compares the harvest...