To Autumn

The sun appears in each stanza of this poem as a constant companion to the personification of Autumn. It is natural that they should be linked, since it’s the turning of the earth in relation to the sun that determines the changing seasons, and the moods of the sun that create and ignite everything that autumn is known for: ripening fruit, reddening leaves, blooming hazelnuts and flowers for the bees. The world that Keats writes about is one that Autumn and the sun build together side by side.

In the first stanza of the poem, the sun is described as a “close bosom-friend” and “maturing” (Line 2). The second word has two meanings here; the sun itself is maturing as it passes into the coming dark season, reminiscent of two dear friends coming into their old age together. The sun is also “maturing” the world around it, ripening the fruits, flowers, and landscape for the harvest. This suggests the sun’s ability to bring life, but also to take it away.

In the second stanza, Autumn lapses into a midday drowsiness, much like the way the sun can drain one’s energy on a hot day. This isn’t implied to be frightening or negative, but rather a period of rest. The last line, “Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours” (Line 22), suggests the lazy, indulgent passage of time as the sun crosses the sky. In the final stanza, the day—and the year—begin to reach their close. The clouds “bloom the soft-dying day / And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue” (Lines 25-26), or the rosy light of sunset, and the poem suggests a change in tone, a melancholy of the coming darkness. Here the sun begins to fade, along with the personified title character—and, very possibly, the author himself—all withdrawing into the night together.