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John KeatsA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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.
By John Keats
Endymion
Endymion: A Poetic Romance
John Keats
La Belle Dame sans Merci
La Belle Dame sans Merci
John Keats
Meg Merrilies
Meg Merrilies
John Keats
Ode on a Grecian Urn
Ode on a Grecian Urn
John Keats
Ode on Melancholy
Ode on Melancholy
John Keats
Ode to a Nightingale
Ode to a Nightingale
John Keats
Ode to Psyche
Ode to Psyche
John Keats
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
John Keats
On Seeing the Elgin Marbles
On Seeing the Elgin Marbles
John Keats
The Eve of St. Agnes
The Eve of St. Agnes
John Keats
When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be
When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be
John Keats