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Poem Analysis

Introduction

Life is not eternal, at least not on earth. Just as there are seasons in a year there are also seasons in

the life of every living thing. Change is inevitable in life and time dictates much to do with the

results. The poems ‘To Autumn’ by John Keats and ‘Afternoons’ by Philip Larkin present this

clearly.

The context of the poems

The poem ‘The Autumn’ dates back in 1819 and the author largely focuses on the autumn season

and its characteristics. This is captured through ideas, content, and language as the author vividly

presents the patient observer's impact, perception, and sense of the season. It describes the

distinctive features of autumn and the signs of the coming winter season. The season is personified

and addressed to as a woman. Since the author wrote this poem after a countryside walk he vividly

clearly captures the sights, sounds and smell experienced. On the other hand, ‘Afternoons’

concentrates on the end of a summer season in an afternoon. It dates in 1959 and examines other

people’s lives while at the same time analyzing their existence as observed at a local recreation

ground. It clearly introduces the author as a person who cannot still fathom everything about

domestication despite his age.

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Themes

The natural world, Ripeness, and change of time are some of the key themes in the poem.

Romanticism and death are also evident in the poem “To Autumn”.

The romanticism in the poem is evident through the deep appreciation of the power and the beauty

of nature, the recognition of the influence the season and its characteristics have on the senses and

emotions of someone. It provokes a deeper understanding of life. The author begins on a joyful

delight as he wonders what nature has to offer, and its richness. However, this changes gradually

to a melancholic and reflective mood in the third stanza as the author questions what passing of

time means to him personally and the human race in general. The question of why we are existing

is posed provoking reader’s thinking.

The poem can be interpreted as communicating that everything has its own season and definitely

has an end. Everything in the poems directs to coming to a halt at some point. The author brings

this out through the changing seasons of the year which shows how change is inevitable and pretty

much how someone's life fades with time. This, however, is presented with the hope of something

new. The leaves die and the ripened things start decaying in preparation for winter a dormant state

as they wait to spring back to life in the spring season. The theme of nature is very evident from

reference to the plants, fruits, birds, and insects referred to as ‘full-grown lambs'.

The ripeness of autumn in terms of it being the season when the fruit is ready and the harvests ‘to

swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells with a sweet kernel, can be interpreted to mean the

readiness of next season or life. The climax of everything in life before the unprecedented happens-

death. This comes after passing of time which is also a key theme in the poem. As time passes, in

days and hours the seasons come and go but not before changing life form and this repeats in our
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whole lives. The year is coming to an end but the author hints a new life cycle bound to bring new

fresh life.

On the other hand, “Afternoons” presents seasons change, marriage, aging and relationships as the

main themes. It is melancholic as it expresses how marrying young can cause loss of identity.

‘Summer is fading” and falling of leaves in ones and twos depicts the change of seasons and hence

change in life which occurs over time. Through the description of ‘hollows,' it is also implied that

not only is their sadness in lives been described but also emptiness. The once cherished wedding

album is described as lying by the television after new world war housing development and

somehow marriage is presented as having lost its luster. In the second stanza, the author paints

married life as unromantic as the couples do not stand together and men are instead lingering in

intervals in the behind. Symbolizing the faded romance. In general, in the ‘Afternoons' the theme

of frustration, failure, and emptiness of life are dominant

Form and Structure

The “To Autumn” poem takes an ode form where usually a lyric poem is written in different

irregular meter praising something, in this case, praising autumn. Eleven stanzas are used.

The poem has a complex rhyme scheme although it helps in focus on the introduction of ideas.

Every first four lines of a stanza have regular rhyme scheme-abab while the ninth and tenth lines

have rhyming couplets which echo to a rhyme presented earlier in each stanza.

Iambic pentameter is the evident basic rhythm. The line of verses is written in five pairs of syllables

each made of stressed syllable precedent by an unstressed syllable.

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In the “Afternoons” the poem is set in three stanzas of eight lines each although not presented in a

rhythmic manner. It is structured in a simple manner.

Language and figures of speech.

Rich sensuous vocabulary is used with a combination of literary devices. Imagery, personification

and rhetorical questions are used. The author refers to the autumn season as a woman described as

“close bosom-friend of the maturing sun”. The author also refers to male summer and female

autumn forming a union to produce abundant crops in autumn. In the end, the personified autumn

is described as facing the end of life as the onset of winter approaches. "Autumn thinks back

wistfully to spring and there is a sense of regret as life passes".

A metaphor is used where the change of seasons and wind are used to depict the change of life. In

the "Afternoons", summer can be interpreted to mean the youthful stage of young mothers which

is fading as Autumn approaches and on the other hand in "To Autumn" the harvests been made

can be interpreted as the maturity stage.

In the ‘Afternoons’ the author uses enjambment to depict the unbroken cycle of courting in

generations in which he thinks the repetition by next generation will be a doom ending in the same

dull fate of their parents. The choice of words, symbolism, and imagery are used in the description

of the passage of time and change in young mothers. The poem gets more cynical with every

stanza.

The falling of leaves in ones and twos depicts how the life of the young mothers is deteriorating

day by day which will eventually come to an end when all leaves have fell off-death. Seasons

symbolize the different stages of life. The routine by the mothers to watch their children play as

time passes can also be translated to show their lack of hope for any better life as it is a routine.
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Everything has been affected by time, actually, their past has been forgotten. The wedding albums

lying next to the television symbolizes how romance had faded with time and the once happy

moments and special memories are forgotten due to change of time and age. The vivid description

of what is happening leaves a lasting set of images with the impression of disillusionment. Imagery

is also effectively used where the author uses "courting places" to refer to the same recreational

places the young mothers enjoyed but can now not enjoy because their young children in school

"unripe acorns" who do not yet know about courting are playing and enjoying their time.

Comparison of John Keats’s To Autumn to Philip Larkin's Afternoons

Differences

‘Afternoons" concentrates on the swift passing of life is largely a regretful tone while "To Autumn"

is in a celebratory tone at first praising the power and characteristics of autumn and although death

is presented it is brought in a way that one understands is part of the cycle of life. Secondly, "To

Autumn" is described as happening across the whole day while "Afternoons" is described in a

more concentrated timing. Thirdly, "To Autumn" takes a formal structure, rhythms and rhymes

hence a typical ode while Larkin’s poem is less formal and has a regular structure.

Similarities

In both poems, seasons are used to depict progress and change in human life. Secondly, they both

are presented as progressing over the course of a day and lastly both contain three stanzas with

what can be described as having logical time development as the content is developed there.
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Works Cited

Hellen M. "Analysis of Afternoons by Philip Larkin." Poem Analysis, 16 Nov. 2017,

poemanalysis.com/afternoons-by-philip-larkin-poem-analysis/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018.

Abrink. "To Autumn." To Autumn, 27 July 2015, www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/autumn.

Accessed 3 Nov. 2018.