Bright Star

#11

This whole new section of poems that we are studying is centered around figurative language. I found it very fitting that the first poem to study was a huge apostrophe. The speaker it directly addressing a star throughout the poem. He speaks of all the qualities he likes about being a star and how great it would be to be steadfast, but he doesn't want to be alone like the bright star. He wants to be steadfast only if he can have his lover forever or die at the peak of their love. I found his worry of being alone kind of ironic though. Everyone always says that stars are countless and there are millions of them. Why was this one star thought to be alone?

To Autumn

To Autumn is a great example of imagery. Autumn is my favorite season, so I may be biased, but I believe the picture drawn with these words is a beautiful one. I believe that Keats set this poem up to be in the format of a fall day. First, there are three stanzas which I believe represent morning, afternoon, and evening. The first stanza begins with talk of the beginning of fall when everything is "plump" and "ripe." He refers to a lot of fruit here in stanza one. Stanza two contains my favorite part of autumn, cider. I believe here he is explaining the middle days of fall where everything is being reaped because the end of fall is near. The last stanza represents the end of fall. Keats give the image of the sun setting. ("While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, and tough the stubble-plains with rosy hue") The day and the season are "soft[ly] dying." He says that "gnats mourn", "full-grown lambs bleat", and "the red-breast whistles softly." The last image he gives the reader is the image of swallows twittering and gathering food for the winter.