John Keats - The Human Seasons

Poet John Keats

John Keats, 1795-1821

Teignmouth, March 1818

Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;

There are four seasons in the mind of man:

He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear

Takes in all beauty with an easy span:

He has his Summer, when luxuriously

Spring's honied cud of youthful thought he loves

To ruminate, and by such dreaming high

Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves

His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings

He furleth close; contented so to look

On mists in idleness—to let fair things

Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.

He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,

Or else he would forego his mortal nature.

Background

Keats wrote this sonnet at Teignmouth in the second week of March 1818 and enclosed it in a letter to Benjamin Bailey dated 13 March, writing: 'You know my ideas about Religion. I do not think myself more in the right than other people, and that nothing in this world is proveable. I wish I could enter into all your feelings on the subject merely for one short 10 Minutes and give you a Page or two to your liking. I am sometimes so very sceptical as to think Poetry itself a mere Jack a lanthen to amuse whoever may chance to be struck with its brilliance. As Tradesmen say every thing is worth what it will fetch, so probably every mental pursuit takes its reality and worth from the ardour of the pursuer--being in itself a nothing--Ethereal thing[s] may at least be thus real, divided under three heads--Things real--things semireal --and no things. Things real--such as existences of Sun Moon & Stars and passages of Shakspeare. Things semireal such as Love, the Clouds &c which require a greeting of the Spirit to make them wholly exist--and Nothings which are made Great and dignified by an ardent pursuit --which by the by stamps the burgundy mark on the bottles of our Minds, insomuch as they are able to "consec[r]ate whate'er they look upon". I have written a Sonnet here of a somewhat collateral nature--so don't imagine it an a propos des bottes.'

Keats wrote numerous minor poems while at Teignmouth and the first drafts are preserved in letters to Bailey, Reynolds and Haydon. This particular work was first published in Leigh Hunt's Literary Pocket-Book for 1819.

References 

John Keats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats 

Analysis 1

http://www.shvoong.com/books/poetry/1961426-sumary-john-keats-human-seasons/#ixzz1UuyRqcNB

The four stages of human life are like the four seasons of a year.Each stage has a compilation of lengthy dramas and stories of experiences from the cradle to the grave.It applies for both the human body and the human mind.For what is life here on earth? it is but a short journey we all undertake till our purpose is done.We all are formed from the dust and to the dust we shall all return one day.

The first stage of human life is the birth and the childhood days,which is compared to the season of Spring.This Season is believed to be the rebirth of Nature's life here on earth.It is characterized by warmth, spots of flora emerging everywhere on the naked ground,sounds of all types of birds in the air, movement of wild animals in the forest and very bright sunshine.This is the Season of optimism and hope.From birth till late childhood, life for every child is almost the beginning of a bright and a shiny future.Childhood is featured by innocence, physical stamina and vitality, tremendous urge for the outdoors and a tremendous appetite for fun and play.Activities have no limits.Each and everyone of us miss our childhood days.

The second stage of human life is Youth which is compared to the season of Summer. Summer is the season of fertility and immense harvest. It is marked by pleasantness,warm Summer rain and a blooming of vegetation.The fish of the waters swim adventurously in the gushing streams and rivers.The Earth itself is manifested with esteemed life.Similarly, Youth is marked by the end of Childhood innocence,beginning of self consciousness and high spirits of Romance.It is the peak and the glorious age of life.Each and everyone of us decides which path in life to take and the plans to settle with the best of everything.Beauty and attraction symbolizes the physical color of youth.

The Third stage of human life is Middle age which is compared to the season of Autumn.Autumn is characterized by beginning of dryness and slow deterioration of leaves of trees and plants.Everything around begins to fade away and begins to look shabby.The incoming chilling breeze blowing in all directions add to the gloom of nature.Similarly, Middle age is featured by a very slowly degrading physical strength,slight change in outward appearance,relaxed mood,and burdened with matured activities.By this time, all are treading towards old age.We see life differently and quite often worry about the generation,quite often our own off springs.The main feature of Middle age is Parenthood.We also learn to look back at our own lives and become very nostalgic.

The last stage is the Old Age which is compared to the season of Winter.This season is marked by extreme dryness and cold.The days are short and nights are long.Physical strength begins to fall to an all time low.Health is always a major issue.At this stage people tend to become very Spiritual and become mentally prepared for death.Winter ultimately closes the year just like old age closes the life on earth of a person to eternal rest.



Analysis 2

http://www.freewebs.com/mattsheahan/

John Keats writes The Human Seasons because he feels as though every season is comparable to a human emotion. He gives the reader a brief but in depth description of each season and shows how it pertains to a certain emotion humans feel. For example, “Spring, when fancy clear Takes in all beauty with an easy span:” (Keats, 2-3). Keats uses symbolism with the seasons to go beyond the literal meaning of spring, and infer that spring conveys a very easy and outgoing emotion. Spring is birth and life again from Winter. Summer describes a very youthful personality. It is a time of dreaming and exploring. Autumn portrays a relaxed personality. It is a time to sit back and take in the surrounding beauty. Winter is a distasteful personality, but is comforting because it allows people to look forward to the transition of Spring, or more positive personalities. In this poem, John Keats is able to look beyond the literal nature of seasons and provide a profound insight into human nature.



Anaylsis 3

http://mural.uv.es/romilo/trabajo03.htm

DIFFERENTS POINTS OF VIEW OF LIFE

The poem “The Human Seasons” was written by John Keats at Teignmouth and enclosed it in a letter to Benjamin Bailey dated 13 March 1818. It was later included in his “Poems” published in 1819. (www.englishhistory.net)

The first two verses explain the contents of the poem and introduce the theme: he compares the four seasons of a natural year with the several stages of human life, also a natural process.

The main ideas of the poem are distributed in four steps, one for each stanza and also corresponding to each season of the year: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The meaning is very clearly presented, as we can experience nowadays, that life is brief, temporary and that each period in our life has different feelings and thoughts.

In the first quatrain Keats introduces the topic. The way he expresses it is in two affirmative clauses; he doesn’t use any comparative particles, but the meaning is evident. Lifetime is a natural cycle, we are born, we grow up, we reproduce ourselves and die. In the same stanza Spring is described as very short and happy. This season is the first stage of the year and it’s compared to the first period of our lives: childhood. In that time everything is beautiful and “lusty”. Keats doesn’t mention any problem in this period.

The second quatrain refers to Summer and its influence on our feelings. Summer is the best time in our lives, we are still young, but as Keats mentions, we “ruminate thoughts”, that is, we have had some experience and we are able to think about what we did in our childhood. This is the so called maturity age. These thoughts can only be fed by sweet, tender childhood memories. Through these thoughts men can be totally happy, “unto heaven”. The age line for Summer could be from the 20s to the 40s.

Autumn covers the third stanza and includes spiritual experiences. In this stage human beings are mature, their tiredness is reflected in their acts. The words used are calm and relaxing: “quiet coves”, “closed wings”, “mist in idleness”, “threshold brook”. What the poet tries to express is that we have to admit that we are getting old, we have to be satisfied of our deeds and we just let time pass by.

Only in the last two verses Winter is mentioned. Death just happens once, it is everybody’s destiny and nobody can run away from it. The mortal nature of men is described here as “pale misfeature”. There are two different ways of interpreting it, on the one hand men grows old so beauty and health get reduced, but on the other hand we can imagine that it can be the description of the deformed body after death as everybody will end the same.

Keats died when he was only 25 so we cannot describe it as the poet’s experience because he couldn’t feel like an old person but maybe these years were intense and lived as a long lifetime. Independently of this, Keats doesn’t use any kind of humorous or ironic language. The poem is very objective. It is a comparison with Nature and its development is based on “facts” that continually occur.

Based on the analysis of the structure of the poem we can appreciate which life period is more important for Keats. Apart form the introduction, each season has its own length inside the poem. The extension of each part of the year is related to the relevance of the period that corresponds to human life. Autumn is the longest one, which reinforces the meaning of waiting for death.

The imagery is very clearly exposed: Spring describes childhood, Summer maturity, Autumn, when men wait the final moment and Winter the death.

When I first read the poem I was impressed because of its objectivity, no feelings are expressed, it is factual. The poem is addressed to a man but the addressee is humanity. I also liked the structure; direct at the beginning, then more elaborate. I totally agree with the poet. The poem is like a guide of life, taking part in daily problems and focusing on spiritual sensations and feelings.


Reference Bibliography

• Ford, B. The new Pelican Guide to English Literature.Vol. 5, From Blake to Byron. Penguin Books, Ltd. 1982, Harmondsworth.
• Wu, D. Romanticism, An Anthology with CD-Rom. Second Edition. Blackwell Publishing. 1998, Oxford, UK
• Bloom, H. & Trilling, L. The Oxford Anthology of English Literature. Romantic Poetry and Prose. Oxford University Press. 1973, New York.
• Bloom, H. Romanticism and Consciousness. Essays in Criticism. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1970, New York.

John Keats - Bright Star

John Keats, 1795-1821
Begun April 1818, Completed February 1819, Publ 1838



Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art -
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors -
No - yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever - or else swoon to death.




References

John Keats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats
Bright Star - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_star,_would_I_were_steadfast_as_thou_art
Analysis - http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/star.html
Study Guide - http://www.brighthub.com/education/homework-tips/articles/52123.aspx
Study Guide - http://www.enotes.com/bright-star

John Keats - Ode to Autumn

John Keats, 1795-1821
Written May 1819, Publ January 1829



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-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed 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'erbrimmed their clammy cells.


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-reaped furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed 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 cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.


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 redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.




References

John Keats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats
Ode to Autumn - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Autumn
John Keat's Six Odes of 1819 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats%27s_1819_odes
Analysis - http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/autumn.html
Study Guide - x

John Keats - Ode to Psyche

John Keats, 1795-1821
Written May 1819, Publ January 1829



O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung
By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,
And pardon that thy secrets should be sung
Even into thine own soft-conched ear:
Surely I dreamt to-day, or did I see
The winged Psyche with awaken’d eyes?
I wander’d in a forest thoughtlessly,
And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise,
Saw two fair creatures, couched side by side
In deepest grass, beneath the whisp’ring roof
Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran
A brooklet, scarce espied:


’Mid hush’d, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed,
Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian,
They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass;
Their arms embraced, and their pinions too;
Their lips touch’d not, but had not bade adieu,
As if disjoined by soft-handed slumber,
And ready still past kisses to outnumber
At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love:
The winged boy I knew;
But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?
His Psyche true!


O latest born and loveliest vision far
Of all Olympus’ faded hierarchy!
Fairer than Phœbe’s sapphire-region’d star,
Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;
Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,
Nor altar heap’d with flowers;
Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan
Upon the midnight hours;
no voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet
From chain-swung censer teeming;
No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat
Of pale-mouth’d prophet dreaming.


O brightest! though too late for antique vows,
Too, too late for the fond believing lyre,
When holy were the haunted forest boughs,
Holy the air, the water, and the fire;
Yet even in these days so far retir’d
From happy pieties, thy lucent fans,
Fluttering among the faint Olympians,
I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired.
So let me be thy choir, and make a moan
Upon the midnight hours;
Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet
From swinged censer teeming;
Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat
Of pale-mouth’d prophet dreaming.


Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
In some untrodden region of my mind,
Where branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,
Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind:
Far, far around shall those dark-cluster’d trees
Fledge the wild-ridged mountains steep by steep;
And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees,
The moss-lain Dryads shall be lull’d to sleep;
And in the midst of this wide quietness
A rosy sanctuary will I dress
With the wreath’d trellis of a working brain,
With buds, and bells, and stars without a name,
With all the gardener Fancy e’er could feign,
Who breeding flowers, will never breed the same:
And there shall be for thee all soft delight
That shadowy thought can win,
A bright torch, and a casement ope at night,
To let the warm Love in!




References

John Keats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats
Ode to Psyche - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_to_Psyche
John Keat's Six Odes of 1819 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats%27s_1819_odes
Analysis - http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/psyche.html
Study Guide - http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides8/Psyche.html#Top

John Keats - Ode on Melancholy

John Keats, 1795-1821
Written May 1819, Publ January 1829



No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf’s-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss’d
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow’s mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.


But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.


She dwells with Beauty – Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.




References


John Keats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats
Ode on Melancholy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_on_Melancholy
John Keat's Six Odes of 1819 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats%27s_1819_odes
Analysis - http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/melancholy.html
Study Guide - http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides8/Melancholy.html#Top

John Keats - Ode on Indolence

John Keats, 1795-1821
Written May 1819, Publ January 1829

“They toil not, neither do they spin.”



One morn before me were three figures seen,
With bowed necks, and joined hands, side-faced;
And one behind the other stepp’d serene,
In placid sandals, and in white robes graced:
They pass’d, like figures on a marble urn,
When shifted round to see the other side;
They came again; as when the urn once more
Is shifted round, the first seen shades return;
And they were strange to me, as may betide
With vases, to one deep in Phidian lore.


How is it, shadows, that I knew ye not?
How came ye muffled in so hush a masque?
Was it a silent deep-disguised plot
To steal away, and leave without a task
My idle days? Ripe was the drowsy hour;
The blissful cloud of summer-indolence
Benumb’d my eyes; my pulse grew less and less;
Pain had no sting, and pleasure’s wreath no flower.
O, why did ye not melt, and leave my sense
Unhaunted quite of all but – nothingness?


A third time pass’d they by, and, passing, turn’d
Each one the face a moment whiles to me;
Then faded, and to follow them I burn’d
And ached for wings, because I knew the three:
The first was a fair maid, and Love her name;
The second was Ambition, pale of cheek,
And ever watchful with fatigued eye;
The last, whom I love more, the more of blame
Is heap’d upon her, maiden most unmeek, –
I knew to be my demon Poesy.


They faded, and, forsooth! I wanted wings:
O folly! What is Love? And where is it?
And for that poor Ambition – it springs
From a man’s little heart’s short fever- fit;
For Poesy! – no, – she has not a joy,-
At least for me, – so sweet as drowsy noons,
And evenings steep’d in honied indolence;
O, for an age so shelter’d from annoy,
That I may never know how change the moons,
Or hear the voice of busy common-sense!


A third time came they by; – alas! wherefore?
My sleep had been embroider’d with dim dreams;
My soul had been a lawn besprinkled o’er
With flowers, and stirring shades, and baffled beams:
The morn was clouded, but no shower fell,
Though in her lids hung the sweet tears of May;
The open casement press’d a new-leaved vine,
Let in the budding warmth and throstle’s lay;
O shadows! ’twas a time to bid farewell!
Upon your skirts had fallen no tears of mine.


So, ye three ghosts, adieu! ye cannot raise
My head cool-bedded in the flowery grass;
For I would not be dieted with praise,
A pet-lamb in a sentimental farce!
Fade softly from my eyes, and be once more
In masque-like figures on the dreamy urn;
Farewell! I yet have visions for the night,
And for the day faint visions there is store;
Vanish, ye phantoms, from my idle spright,
Into the clouds, and never more return!




References


John Keats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats
Ode on Indolence - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_on_Indolence
John Keat's Six Odes of 1819 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats%27s_1819_odes
Analysis - x
Study Guide - http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides8/Indolence.html#Top