Thursday, October 2, 2008

john keats' "to autumn"

cold nights, misty mornings, warm afternoons all point to the gentle but perceptable movement of the season as autumn reveals itself gradually from parts to whole. a vine planted a few years ago by one of my neighbours has generously spread itself along the fence delineating the point at which our respective properties are divided. through the late spring and summer this vine grows quickly and has advanced in three years along an area fifty or more feet long and eight feet high. it's effect is to soften and hide the wooden boundary.

it's a funny thing that my neighbour has been more concerned that it is imposing on my property than he has been in recognizing the extraordinary generosity of his gift! particularly in the autumn when the leaves of this vine turn a glorious variety of colours. (click on the image to fill your screen with what i get to see every day!)

to accompany this picture, here are some luscious autumnal words by the english romantic poet john keats excerpted from his larger poem "to autumn" . . .

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 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.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love that poem, it always reminds me of autumn. to be quite honest though, I always rephrase the first line as "season of mists and muddy bootfulness...

steven said...

i say soggy fruitlessness!!! i'm glad that you like the poem alan. there's lots written about autumn - my favourite season of the year regardless of the early dark nights, the foggy mornings, the cold winds, the cold rain. it's that nice sorrowful wistful passage from summer heat and glow to winter retreat and hovering around the hearth that is so lovely.
dad