Ode to Autumn
John Keats
Enduring Understanding
Ode To Autumn by John Keats
celebrates the beauty and transience of
nature. It captures the richness of
autumn, symbolizing maturity and the
cycle of life. The poem evokes a deep
appreciation for the season's fleeting
moments and inevitable passage of
time.
Learning Targets
• I can determine the central theme of
the poem.
• I can critically analyse the poem for
the underlying meanings and symbols.
• I can extract relevant information to
formulate answers with evidence.
Agenda - Day 1
• Entry ticket - 5 mins
• Introduction to Ode - 5 mins
• Title significance - 5 mins
• Biography of John Keats - 3 mins
• Stanza 1- Reading & Explanation - 15
mins
• Exit Ticket - Found Poetry - 17 mins
Success Criteria
• Students will be able to
understand the significance of the
title and correlate it with how it
sets the tone for the poem.
• Students will be able to create a
“found poem” on autumn by
understanding the nuances of
Found Poetry.
Day 1- Entry Ticket
Brainstorm the words/ phrases/
emotions/ images that come to
your mind when you think of the
autumn season.
Come up with as many as
possible.
(To be done on the board).
Ode
An ode is a type of lyrical stanza. It
is a poem that is often intended to be
sung and expresses strong feelings or
thoughts, typically of a lofty or
dignified nature. Odes are
characterized by their serious tone
and formal style and they often
praise or glorify a person, event or
object. Odes have been a popular
poetic form since ancient times and
have been adapted by many poets
over the centuries.
Ode to Autumn
Ode to Autumn by John Keats is an
example of a Horatian ode. Horatian
odes are known for their regular and
consistent stanza structure, reflective
and contemplative tone and often
focus on personal thoughts and
emotions. Keats's Ode to Autumn fits
this description, with its regular
stanzas and contemplative meditation
on the season of autumn.
Ode to Autumn - Title
What does the title of the poem suggest?
• The lyric poem glorifies nature during the
autumn season.
• Autumn season is celebrated for its
abundance of yield and the pleasant sight
it offers.
• The poem talks about the three phases of
autumn season; the fruits, crops, vegetables
and flowers that are harvested during the
autumn; various activities that take place
during the autumn season; and finally, the
songs of autumn that herald the arrival of
the winter season.
John Keats
🎀
BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN KEATS
• John Keats was an English Romantic
poet. He was one of the main figures of
the second generation of Romantic
poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy
Bysshe Shelley.
• John Keats wrote Ode to Autumn to
celebrate the season's natural beauty,
inspired by a countryside walk in
September 1819. The poem reflects his
mature poetic voice, appreciation of
nature and philosophical musings on life
and time providing solace during his
personal struggles.
ROMANTICISM
Romanticism was a movement in the 18th
and 19th centuries that focused on emotions,
imagination, and the beauty of nature. It
valued individual feelings over logic and
was a reaction to the strict rules of the
Enlightenment period. John Keats, a
Romantic poet, wrote about love, beauty,
and the fleeting nature of life. His poems
often used rich, descriptive language to
create vivid images and express deep
feelings. Keats believed that beauty and
truth are connected, and he wanted his
readers to feel the emotions in his poetry,
not just think about them.
ODE TO AUTUMN
STANZA 1
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With 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 shells
With 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.
Explanation
In this stanza the poet has described the beauty of
autumn. Autumn is the season of fulfillment. It is a season
during which different kinds of fruits ripen and autumn’s
close company with the sun brings good harvest.
The vines running round the edges of thatched roofs
become loaded with grapes during autumn. Apple trees
growing in the cottage gardens are covered with moss and
are weighed down with fruits. All fruits are filled with
sweetness in this season. The gourd grows bigger and the
hazelnuts are filled with sweet kernel.
Certain flowers also bloom in autumn. The bees suck the
sweetness of these flowers and it seems that these flowers
represent a continuation of summer. It was evident in the
lines depicting that for the bees , the warm days of
summer have not ended. The sticky cells of the honey
comb are filled to overflowing with honey . The lines
indicate that the autumn provides more flowers in case the
bees may like to draw more sweetness from them.
Day 1- Exit Ticket
Found Poetry - Pgs 150 and 151
MyFreePPT
Do Now:
Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole
passages from other sources and reframing them by making changes in spacing and lines,
or by adding or deleting text, thus imparting new meaning. See examples below:
if NOTHING
else
like A beautif
ul Tree
in your hands FEEL
The small, but
OR A Super fun Movie
extraordinary
This
friend of mine
a
ROOM OF kindness
Of SHOCK
Make S me Laugh at Lunchtime
Agenda - Day 2
• Entry ticket - 5 mins
• Stanza 2 & 3- Reading & Explanation
- 20 mins
• Poetic Devices - 15 mins
• Exit Ticket - Inferring the triple Ms - 10
mins
Success Criteria
• Students will be able to identify
the key poetic devices used in the
poem.
• Students will be able to infer the
meaning, mood and message by
providing evidence from the
poem.
Day 2 -Entry Ticket -
Vocabulary Match - Recap
Based on stanza 1, match the words
with their meanings.
Words Meaning
mellow Collaborating
bosom-friend fruitful abundance
conspiring Edges of thatched roofs
thatch-eves Sticky moistness of honey
clammy-cells Close, intimate friend
ODE TO AUTUMN
STANZA 2
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee 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 hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Explanation
The second stanza describes the occupation of autumn. Autumn is
here personified as a winnower, as a reaper, as a gleaner, and
as a cider-presser.
Thus, autumn is here seen as a woman who performs the tasks of
winnowing, reaping, gleaning and cider pressing. If anyone
wants to see Autumn he may go into the fields and see the
woman engaged in the winnowing operation, while the breeze
ruffles their locks of hair. This is one of the picture of Autumn.
Secondly, we may see Autumn in the shape of a reaper, who is
engaged in reaping corn but who in the course of her work is so
overcome by the sleep-inducing smell of the poppies that she
falls asleep, with the result that the next row of corn remains
unreaped.
Thirdly, Autumn may be seen in the character of a gleaner who is
walking alone steadily with the weight of grains upon her head,
crossing a stream.
Finally, Autumn may be seen in the figure of a woman who is
crushing the ripe apples in the wooden press to obtain beer juice
from which cider is to be made. This woman sits by the cider
press and watches patiently the apple juice flowing out of the
press, drop by drop.
ODE TO AUTUMN
STANZA 3
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 mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
Explanation
In the third stanza, the poet describes the sounds of Autumn.
Spring is distinguished by its songs. These sweet songs are
not heard in Autumn. But there is no need to feel any regret
on that account. Autumn has its own peculiar music. The poet
hears the sound of Autumn in the evening at the time of the
sun setting.
At this time, the melancholy buzzing of the gnats is heard.
The gnats fly about among the shrubs growing on the
river-side . The gnats are carried upwards when the wind is
strong, and they come downwards when the wind is feeble.
In addition to the gnats singing in a melancholy chorus the
bleating of full grown lambs is heard from the hills which
bound the landscape. Then there is the chirping of the
grasshoppers.
Next comes the high, bold and delicate singing of the
redbreast which sings from a orchard.
Finally, there is the twittering of the swallows which are
gathering in large number to get ready for their winter
migration.All these sounds are the music of Autumn.
Poetic Devices
Rhetorical Question: Rhetorical
question is often used to make a
point and not to receive an answer.
Keats has posed rhetorical questions
in the second and third stanzas to
emphasize his point such as, “Where
are the songs of spring?”
Imagery - Keats’s imagery evokes the
perceptions of sight, hearing, smell,
taste.
Keats uses visual imagery such as
thatch-eved”; “mossed cottage-trees”;
the granary floor”; “plump the hazel
shells” and “full-grown lambs.”
There is also olfactory (sense of
smell) imagery in the second stanza
such as, “fume of poppies” and “sweet
kernel.”
Tactile imagery is used in “clammy
cells” and “winnowing wind.”
Personification is to give human
characteristics to non-human things. Keats
has used personification in the opening
lines of the poem:
“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;”
Apostrophe is an address to a dead or
absent person or personification as if
he/she were present. The poet has used
this device in the twelfth line where it is
stated as “Who hath not seen thee oft
amid thy store.” In this line, the poet
directly addresses the imaginary
character “autumn”.
Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to
signify ideas and qualities, giving them
symbolic meanings that are different from the
literal meanings. Keats has used a lot of
symbols in this poem such as “gathering
swallows” symbolizes the end of autumn.
Simile: Keats has used simile in the nineteenth
line, “And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost
keep.” Here, he compares autumn with a
person who gathers the remaining
crop/leaves/grain from the field.
Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of
vowel sounds in the same line. For example,
/o/ sound in “Among the river sallows, borne
aloft.”
EXIT TICKET - Inferring the triple Ms
MyFreePPT
Meaning Mood Motivation
In this poem, Keats traces The poem's mood is A significant Romantic poet,
the progression of autumn. generally celebratory, Keats wrote this poem to
In thefirst stanza, he typified by the poem's first celebrate nature, and in
describes autumn as a time line: 'season of mists and particular, the season of
of bounty. In the second mellow fruitfulness!' This autumn, which sees man
stanza, autumn is tone is maintained and nature work together
personified as a farm throughout the poem, until for man's benefit before the
worker during harvest, as the final few lines, e.g. harshness of winter. The
Keats describes the hard 'wailful choir', which create passing of time is central to
work that is done during a sad tone as autumn is this poem, and Keats may
this time. In the poem's last ending. have explored this idea as
stanza, Keats reflects on he reflected on the end of
autumn's passing and his writerly career due to
winter's impending arrival, financial problems.
which is shown to be sad.
Agenda - Day 3
• Entry ticket - CFU - 7 mins
• Themes - 10 mins
• Discussion and Notebook work - RTC,
Short and long Q/As - 33 mins
Success Criteria
• Students will be able to identify
the central themes of the poem
Ode to Autumn.
• Students will be able to
accurately answer questions by
providing evidence from the text.
DAY 3 - Entry Ticket
CFU
To be taken up as a
summative assessment.
The worksheet to be
collected back and the
teacher to keep record of
the scores.
THEMES
The Transience of Time: The poem reflects
on the fleeting nature of time and the cycles
of life. Autumn is portrayed as a season of
abundance and maturity, yet it also hints at
the impending decline of summer. This
underscores the natural progression of time
and the inevitable change that comes with it.
Nature's Bounty and Abundance: A central
theme of the poem is the rich abundance
and fullness of autumn. Keats celebrates the
ripening of fruits, the swelling of gourds,
and the overflowing honeycombs,
emphasizing nature's generosity and the
harvest season's productivity.
THEMES
The Beauty of Decay: Keats finds beauty
not only in the lushness of autumn but also in
its gradual decline. The imagery of the late
flowers and the setting sun evokes a sense
of melancholic beauty, highlighting the
allure in the natural process of ageing and
decay.
Joy and Contentment: Despite the
underlying tones of change and transience,
there is a prevailing sense of contentment
and peace in the poem. Keats presents
autumn as a season to be celebrated and
appreciated for its unique beauty and
richness.
Extract Based Questions
Reader Pgs. 154 and 155
Pg 154 - A
Pg 155 - D
Short Answer Q/A
Q. How does John Keats personify
autumn in the poem?
Q. Do you agree that Ode to
Autumn deals with the fleeting
quality of nature? Discuss.
Q. In what sense does the Sun
conspire with autumn?
Long Question
Q. Discuss the statement , ‘Autumn is
a season of abundance’, with
reference to the poem ‘Ode to
Autumn’.
Exit Ticket - “My Autumn in
a Line”
Write one original line of
poetry that captures your
version of autumn. Use
sensory details to make it
vivid! (Examples in speaker notes)
Optional: Add a tiny sketch (leaf,
apple, sun, etc.) that matches your line!
Thank you !
