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Thread: Ode to Autumn second stanza

  1. #1
    Registered User Jackson Richardson's Avatar
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    Ode to Autumn second stanza

    I have been trying to learn some well-known poems by heart partly to learn to appreciate them better. And I was delighted to get to know Kubla Khan in this way.

    I am now learning Keats’ Ode to Autumn. The first and last stanza are both wonderful, but I am struggling with the second stanza, and I am beginning to suspect the problem is that young Johnny Keats was not keeping his eye on the ball. I find it difficult to imagine the personification of Autumn throughout the stanza, but the two images in the centre are particularly problematic.

    First of all we have:

    Or on a half reaped furrow sound asleep
    Drowsed with the fume of poppies.

    I mean come off it. In order to fall sound asleep on a half reaped furrow you need at least a full anaesthetic. And what aspect of Autumn does it refer to?

    Then:

    And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
    Steady thy laden head across a brook.

    What is the image in the first place? Someone wading through a brook with something on their head? Do gleaners do that? And what on earth does it say about autumn?

    Jackson
    Last edited by Jackson Richardson; 02-21-2018 at 04:08 PM.
    Previously JonathanB

    The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1

  2. #2
    TheFairyDogMother kiz_paws's Avatar
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    Then:

    And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
    Steady thy laden head across a brook.

    What is the image in the first place? Someone wading through a brook with something on their head? Do gleaners do that? And what on earth does it say about autumn?

    Jackson
    I suspect that the gleaner is holding shafts of cut wheat (some kind of crop) atop the head, to thus keep them dry from that brook.

    The image of autumn, thus is that there is the crop being hand harvested.

    Anyhow, thems my thoughts on your post.
    Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty
    ~Albert Einstein

  3. #3
    Registered User Jackson Richardson's Avatar
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    Thanks, kiz. Jackson xxx
    Previously JonathanB

    The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1

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    Registered User tailor STATELY's Avatar
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    https://www.shmoop.com/to-autumn/stanza-2-summary.html

    I really like this explanation: "Her head is "laden" or heavy – yet another image of weight." whether it be from drunkenness (poppies) or pensiveness.

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor STATELY
    Last edited by tailor STATELY; 02-22-2018 at 07:21 PM.
    tailor

    who am I but a stitch in time
    what if I were to bare my soul
    would you see me origami

    7-8-2015

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