An Interpretation of John Keats’ To Autumn Essay Example for Free

An Interpretation of John Keats’ To Autumn Essay Introduction Poems by John Keats are a source of inspiration. He plays with his readers and takes them to places and times with his words. What inspiration does Keats bring? He inspire his readers to go beyond his words and discover a new world he creates. He makes his words so colorful and alive it is almost musical to the ear. When one reads Keats, he wonders what’s in his heart when he wrote his particular poem and makes him want to be in Keats world and senses. In this particular review, I tried to see Keats world of autumn from afar. A world detached, to objectively examine and look at autumn as Keats paints it with his words. I also wanted to get a perspective of Keat’s style with words, of how he uses them as a vehicle for others to journey to his world. In this same review, I tried to experience the world that Keats created and feel both the experience of his symbols and my comprehension of what he symbolizes autumn to be. The formal and thematic aspect of the poem will be commented on but this interpretation will be candid as I believe Keats wanted his poem read. 1 2 Throughout the three stanzas of the poem, Keats has maintained the ten syllable measure of each line, although, the foot measure of syllable stressed is a little slacked. As in the lines, â€Å"Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find† and some more. Reading aloud the verse, Drowsd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: I could not quite place the stress of the syllables to create a rhythmic sound. I call it literary license, Keats permit his reader to make a decision and choose the way to vocalize his poem. The first stanza is vibrant and tells us of bounty. It is a direct contradiction of autumn or fall as the season is the time when trees begin to bare its leaves and fruits are scarce. But in this poem, Keats describes autumn as the climax of summer, †Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;† mist and mellow here are used as a welcoming scenario to a world filled with life and produce. The last word of the first line fruitfulness rhyming with bless on the third line and sustaining the rhythmic scale throughout the stanza gives a musical air as one reads the poem aloud. The stanza tells us also of a promise of continuity. â€Å"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,† true to the rhythm of his verses, Keats described autumn as a time when seeds are planted for life to continue. It tells as of a beginning of a season, fresh and ready for a new experience in a manner where the season before it, which is summer, in the festivities of plenty and not as a dying season ready to be forgotten and left behind. Autumn in Keats† dedication receives Summer’s gift of plenty, it began as a climax of summer and therefore, promise to be a season 3 of new discoveries and not as bleak as shedding away the leaves of trees to forgetfulness. In the second stanza, the word flowers does not rhyme with any other words at the end of each line. I need to read the poem aloud and discover a rhythm for it to make the poem alive, it gets into a perfect rhyme with the word â€Å"spares’ if that’s where I put the measure at the end of the first line, thus, â€Å" Drowsd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares / the next swath and all its twined flowers.† The same with the last two lines of the second stanza, â€Å"Or by a cyder-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours,† by simply repeating the word, the seemingly ignored rhyme is captured. This is my personal preference of setting the rhythmic pattern of vocalizing the poem, although, the rhyme pattern of the three stanzas comes out to be ababacacaaa, ababcdecdde, and ababcdecdde, in this particular order. It can be observed that the first stanza follows an independent rhyme pattern from the other two stanzas. Keats may have done it intentionally to stress the change of tone of the second stanza that is presented as a question. Why could Keats have done this? As I get absorbed in the autumn scenario of the first stanza, feeling the cool air and seeing laden apple trees bend, the mossed cottage, the vines and more, feeling the climax of summer shared into the start of autumn, and as I get lost to the world that Keats painted with his words, somebody shoots a question like, †Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?† and I was reminded that I am not alone. It was not even a question in the sense that Keats emphasized the beauty of the season being one that cannot be ignored. If he likened autumn as a stage of life’s journey and we choose the paths that we travel on, in the roads we took as we travel in this world, we met people to keep us company, 4 sometimes partway, the greatest thing maybe is to find beauty in life that keeps us company all through the journey. Reading the second stanza brings another question to my mind. What do I really seek for in this life? Why does Keats made me ask this when he wrote, â€Å"Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,† What Keats said in this line is that there are people who sought for things in this life away from where they really are and in fact, what they are seeking for is just within reach. Very clearly he meant happiness, he meant beauty of living, the beauty of living in the here and now. Keats wanted to tell his readers that we need not wait for what we can achieve in the future to experience the joy of being alive. We need only to be aware of the blessings we could find in the present to feel that joy that we seek for in our journey. The third stanza is a validation of the second stanza both in form and interpretation. I noticed that both have the same rhyme pattern and both starts with a question. It tells us of men looking out for joy too far out as in spring in autumn failing to notice that joy is just within reach. â€Å":Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?†, Keats wanted us to know that in this life’s journey, happiness is not about the things we reap in the future but of finding happiness in every endeavor that we do without waiting for whatever fruits or rewards we earned as a result of our works. He tells us that like spring or summer or winter, autumn carries within itself its own music like the wailful choir of small gnats, the loud bleats of full-grown lambs, the songs of crickets, the whistles from garden croft, the twitter of the swallows. Keats wanted his readers to discover them. The choice of the word â€Å"wailful†, the reader can almost hear the liquid fall of tears of the gnats† mournful music. Sad, yet in Keats world of words 5 they represented life’s emotions that eventually gives meaning to everyone’s existence. He pictures autumn’s soft dying day with rosy hue and not with the bleak grey or the dying blackness of the welcoming dark, but of shades of the rose, full of life, full of promise, perhaps of another day ahead, a goodnights sleep, a beautiful dream, a walk in the moon? Or whatever the good life brings in the third part of man’ life. The poem is not necessarily strict with the academic form of the poem although as much as possible Keats wanted to adhere to the scholarly it dictates. In this form, the poem creates a character of free spirit and that refused to be tamed. The three stanzas o f the poem expresses a discipline. It follows a form respecting rhyme, measure, rhythm, color, and all the constituents of this form of literature. Yet, it does hesitate to lay away the conventional to express the soul of his expression as Keats diversion from the rhyming pattern to the rhyming pattern he followed on the second and third stanza. The syllabic measure of the words spares and flowers are left to the decision of the reader, making the reader an active participant to the interpretation of the poem. The three parts of the poem suggest the three stages of man’s life at a point of view, being at birth and early life, maturity and finally at the golden old age of man. But Keats only suggest, because all three speaks of seeking the joy of finding the beauty that life brings. The poem itself, as a form, is music to the ears. His play of rhythm, rhyme, and choice of words, in the context of emotionally attaching the self during its vocalization is like listening to the music of nature. The poem vividly expressed the colors of autumn using nature’s characters as in â€Å"rosy hue†. It does not boast with lengthy lines, numerous stanzas, academic words to express the simplicity of enjoying life, in life’s term. 6 Conclusion The poem â€Å"To Autumn† is a metaphor. Keats represented the season as man’s objects of his endeavors. In the same manner, the times of the seasons’ days represented man’s three stages in life. Why has Keats chosen autumn to represent ingredients of life’s journey? Maybe because of the colors it creates as the season journeys towards another. Maybe because autumn carries with itself the fruitful harvest of summer and links itself to the preparation winter does for a new life in spring. All these are speculations, and these speculations made me look into my life and my attitudes towards life as a journey. A lot of interpretations had considered â€Å"To Autumn† as one of the greatest odes that Keats had written. â€Å"Written in September of 1819, this piece is regarded as his most achieved ode.† 1. If all forms of writing, in different degrees of exertions aims to manipulate the reader’s mind to a certain mode of thoughtfulness, then Keats’ has manipulated mine into a romantic mode of communing with nature as a tool of reflection. He has vividly painted a picture of a season with words so successfully so that its form takes life and invited its readers to experience the joys of the season. It invited everyone to forget about worrying so much about future and take the joys of life in the here and now. 1 Analysis of Keats’ Poem To Autumn Essay. http://exampleesays.com/viewpaper/?wid=1795

Wystan Hugh Auden Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Wystan Hugh Auden Wystan Hugh Auden was born on February 21, 1907, in provincial York, England. Over the next sixty-six years, he became one of the most prolific poets of the twentieth century. He was a versatile poet who felt that poetry was "a game of knowledge." He boarded at Gresham’s School in Norfolk and in 1925 went to Christ Church at Oxford. Although he initially studied biology, he quickly switched to English. From there he embarked on a literary career that covered almost fifty years. Auden’s influences were plentiful: T. S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Frost, and above all Thomas Hardy. Ironically, future generations of poets, including John Ashbery, W.S. Merwin, James Wright, and James Merrill, would look to Auden as a primary influence in their own poetry. The first phase, or "chapter" as Auden would call it, of his literary life covered 1927 to 1932. During this time he emerged from the land of English Romanticism, the Lake District. A pamphlet entitled Poems was printed out in 1928 on a hand press with the help of poet and friend Stephen Spender. After spending a year and a half in Berlin, Germany, Auden returned to England to have his first book published. This book, again entitled Poems (1930), was published by Faber and Faber under the direction of T.S. Eliot. As David Perkins explains in A Modern History of Poetry: Modernism and After, Auden "seemed in the 20’s to be the next step beyond Eliot. The general trend of his writing, regarded as a reaction against Eliot, seemed to be toward accessibility, a more conversational tone, and a freer use of discursive or generalizing language" (151). But the thirties led to a new "chapter" in Auden’s life. By the 1930’s, Auden, alo... ... the Pulitzer Prize. This was followed up with the esteemed Bollingen Prize (1954) and Feltrinelli Prize (1957). Auden continued to write with twenty-one more volumes to come. In 1946 Auden became an American citizen. W. H. Auden deserves his ranking as not only one of the 20th-Century’s greatest poets, but also as one of its most prolific literary authors. Apart from his poetry, Auden wrote reviews, critical articles, and essays ranging from Greek literature and Icelandic sagas to modern poetry and fiction, folklore, children’s literature, psychology, religion, history, biography, light verse, and music. His influence can be compared only to the likes of Eliot, Yeats, and Pound. WORKS CITED Auden, W. H. Collected Poems. New York: Vintage International, 1991. Perkins, David. A History of Modern Poetry: Modernism and After. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1987.

Crime in Literature

When crime features in literature, there are often many ways it is dealt with. In â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† by Langston Hughes, Mrs. Jones was almost robbed by a boy named Roger. Instead of calling the cops Mrs. Jones took the boy home to her house, washed, fed and gave him money to buy the sneakers that he had wanted to steal the money for. In contrast, in Roald Dahl’s â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter†, Mary kills her husband, Patrick Maloney, after he told her he is going to leave her. After killing her husband, she tricks the police that she found him dead when she came home and also tricked them into eating the leg of lamb that she killed him with.While the lesson that is taught in each literature work are far different from each other, both show that crime is treated differently in many cases. However, were as Hughes illustrates the lesson that is being taught about theft, dhal demonstrates the unexpected turn in a common crime. In both works of literature w orks, â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† and â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter†, crime is a common theme. Though in both literature works crime is conveyed differently. In â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† Mrs. Jones is almost robbed by a young boy Roger. But instead of calling the cops, Mrs.Jones catches him and takes him home where she taught him that stealing may not be the solution to his problems. In contrast, in â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter†, Mary Maloney kills her husband, Patrick Maloney. But instead of getting caught, she finds a way to cover her tracks. Though both themes were crime, it’s shown in different ways. In â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† the theme can portrayed as crime is solved by forgiveness. Mrs. Jones shows roger forgiveness which made the reader believe that roger will change his ways. In â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter† the theme shows that crime can be solved by lying.Mary will not go to jail because she covered her tracks an d the cops can’t trace her to her husband’s murder. Another example of how the theme is different by the ending of each story. In the end of â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† roger leaves Mrs. Jones house changed, speechless of what just happened to him. However, in â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter† Mary giggles at the end of the story. This can show that both works of literature were conveyed differently throughout each story. Therefore, this shows how he crime is common in both works of literature through to theme is different. These two examples show how the themes are different.In both works of literature, â€Å"Tank You Ma’am† and â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter†, characterization is a common influence on how each story plays out. However in each works of literature characters influence in different ways. In â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† Mrs. Jones helps roger realize what his wrong doing was. Therefore, Mrs. Jones influences roger t o realize what he has been doing wrong. In contrast, in â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter† Mary tricks to police into eating the lamb, the weapon in Patrick murder case. This shows that Mary influence the police to believe that she did not kill her husband.In â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† Mrs. Jones could be characterized as kind. It was kindness that Mrs. Jones showed Roger for him to realize his wrong doings. And yet, in â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter† Mary can be characterized as manipulative. In addition, the characterization could change the seriousness of a crime. In â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† Roger is characterized as a minor. He was just a young boy who had potential of changing his ways. In â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter† marry could be characterized, in this case, as a consequential adult. Mary was dealing with a serious crime that she had committed.This shows that even though both works of literature consist of crime, the authors illustrates a different kind of crime in each by using the characterization of each character. Roger was a kid with a chance of change, who as just committed a robbery, but in Mary’s case she as an adult that had committed a murder. Through characterization, these stories consist of a common trait, but are conveyed differently. These two examples show how the two text are different. In conclusion, throughout both works of literature, there were common traits that consist in the story that is told by convey themselves differently.In both â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† and â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter† consist of crime, but in each work they convey itself differently than the others. † In â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† crime was resolved by forgiveness. In â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter† crime was solved by lying. Both works also consist of characterization that play out the story, but is used differently in each one. In â€Å"Thank You Ma’am† Mrs . Jones characterization help roger for the better. In â€Å"Lambs to the Slaughter† Mary’s characterization helped her for the bad. There were common trait but all was conveyed differently to create a different reaction of each literature works.

Definition and Examples of Acid-Base Indicator

In chemistry and cooking, many substances dissolve in water to make it either acidic or basic/alkaline. A basic solution has a pH greater than 7, while an acidic solution has a pH of less than 7. Aqueous solutions with a pH of 7 are considered to be neutral. Acid-base indicators are substances used to determine roughly where a solution falls on the pH scale. Acid-Base Indicator  Definition An acid-base indicator is either a weak acid or weak base that exhibits a color change as the concentration of hydrogen (H) or hydroxide (OH-) ions changes in an aqueous solution. Acid-base indicators are most often used in a titration to identify the endpoint of an acid-base reaction. They are also used to gauge pH values and for interesting color-change science demonstrations. Also Known As: pH indicator Acid-Base Indicator Examples Perhaps the best-known pH indicator is litmus.  Thymol Blue, Phenol Red, and Methyl Orange are all common acid-base indicators. Red cabbage can also be used as an acid-base indicator. How an Acid-Base Indicator Works If the indicator is a weak acid, the acid and its conjugate base are different colors. If the indicator is a weak base, the base, and its conjugate acid display different colors. For a weak acid indicator with the genera formula HIn, equilibrium is reached in the solution according to the chemical equation: HIn(aq) H2O(l) ↔ In-(aq) H3O(aq) HIn(aq) is the acid, which is a different color from the base In-(aq). When the pH is low, the concentration of the hydronium ion H3O is high and equilibrium is toward the left, producing the color A. At high pH, the concentration of H3O is low, so equilibrium tends toward the right side of the equation and color B is displayed. An example of a weak acid indicator is phenolphthalein, which is colorless as a weak acid but dissociates in water to form a magenta or red-purple anion. In an acidic solution, equilibrium is to the left, so the solution is colorless (too little magenta anion to be visible), but as pH increases, the equilibrium shifts to the right and the magenta color is visible. The equilibrium constant for the reaction may be determined using the equation: KIn [H3O][In-] / [HIn] where KIn is the indicator dissociation constant. The color change occurs at the point where the concentration of the acid and anion base are equal: [HIn] [In-] which is the point where half of the indicator is in acid form and the other half is its conjugate base. Universal Indicator Definition A particular type of acid-base indicator is a universal indicator, which is a mixture of multiple indicators that gradually changes color over a wide pH range. The indicators are chosen so mixing a few drops with a solution will produce a color that can be associated with an approximate pH value. Table of Common pH Indicators Several plants and household chemicals can be used as pH indicators, but in a lab setting, these are the most common chemicals used as indicators: Indicator Acid Color Base Color pH Range pKIn thymol blue (first change) red yellow 1.2 - 2.8 1.5 methyl orange red yellow 3.2 - 4.4 3.7 bromocresol green yellow blue 3.8 - 5.4 4.7 methyl red yellow red 4.8 - 6.0 5.1 bromothymol blue yellow blue 6.0 - 7.6 7.0 phenol red yellow red 6.8- 8.4 7.9 thymol blue (second change) yellow blue 8.0 - 9.6 8.9 phenolphthalein colorless magenta 8.2 -10.0 9.4 The acid and base colors are relative. Also, note some popular indicators display more than one color change as the weak acid or weak base dissociates more than once. Acid-Base Indicators Key Takeaways Acid-base indicators are chemicals used to determine whether an aqueous solution is acidic, neutral, or alkaline. Because acidity and alkalinity relate to pH, they may also be known as pH indicators.Examples of acid-base indicators include litmus paper, phenolphthalein, and red cabbage juice.An acid-base indicator is a weak acid or weak base that dissociates in water to yield the weak acid and its conjugate base or else the weak base and its conjugate acid. The species and its conjugate have different colors.The point at which an indicator changes colors is different for each chemical. There is a pH range over which the indicator is useful. So, the indicator that might be good for one solution might be a poor choice to test another solution.Some indicators cant actually identify acids or bases, but can only tell you the approximate pH of an acid or a base. For example, methyl orange only works at an acidic pH. It would be the same color above a certain pH (acidic) and also at neutral and alkaline values.