THE END

Task two

1) How does To Autumn differ from the other poems you have studied?

To autumn differs from other poems since it describes autumn with a lot of colours, excess vitality and growth ("To bend with apples"). Nature is depicted in a joyful way. The structure is the progression of one day, the first stanza for the morning, the second stanza for the afternoon and the third stanza for the night. There is an ambivalence in the tone, a duality towards autumn; happiness and sadness throughout the poem. In the last stanza which is in the overall more melancholic it still uses certain words as a reminder that it is not all sad ("soft-dying day"). The big difference is that the speaker is reminded of death but rejoices nature. Much more positive than other poems, he is more accepting of the inevitable end not like Ode on Melancholy where death is rejected. In Ode on a Grecian Urn the speaker doesn´t accept death, in fact it resents the urn since it will prevail throughout time and he is going to die and be forgotten. Also he is admiring nature in the urn and imagines what it would look like while in Ode to Autumn he is actually admiring nature. 

2) I mentioned in a letter to my old pal Reynolds that the stubble fields in Autumn looked "warm" to me. How do I communicate a sense of warmth in my poem?

It communicates the warmth through the language and the synaestethic images. "Warm days will never cease", which means that the warmth will prevail.

3) How do I use language to reflect the passage of time and a sense of an ever-changing world in this poem?

The poem reflects the cycle of life, it not only refers to the progression of the seasons but to the passing of one day. 

In the first stanza there is an excess of vitality and growth, just like in the beginning of life; "maturing sun". It personifies the sun to show how the day is starting and the sun is coming up. 

The second stanza relates to middle of life, the day is already coming to an end; the afternoon. There is a hint of a lazy, mellow and apathetic mood; "Drows´d with the fume of poppies". It is a syneathetic image which combines vision, sound and smell. It doesn´t have the same vividity as the first stanza. 

The last stanza refers to life coming to an end; "rosy hue". The author embraces and accept this ending, "hedge-crickets sing", nature prevails and vitality is still there even though it is the very ending. 

To conclude, the poem is about life and death, form the very beginning of life until the very end. It shows the progression of how time goes by thorough the language used.