To Autumn

John Keats wrote "To Autumn" on September 19, 1819, at the height of his skill. He had just returned from a stroll near the town of Winchester in Hampshire, England. As he put it in a letter to his friend J.H. Reynolds:

How beautiful the season is now – How fine the air. A temperate sharpness about it. Really, without joking, chaste weather – Dian skies – I never lik'd stubble fields so much as now – Aye better than the chilly green of spring. Somehow a stubble plain looks warm – in the same way that some pictures look warm – this struck me so much in my Sunday's walk that I composed upon it.

As the letter suggests, the poem professes Keats's preference for autumn over spring, but the real star of "To Autumn" is the language and, more specifically, the sound.

"To Autumn" is a poem for anyone who has a little trouble letting good things come to an end. It could be a relationship, a cherished experience, or just something you outgrow. And, of course, it could even be a favorite time of year.

So what's the secret to letting a good thing end with grace and good humor? First, always look forward, never back. When Keats thinks about the flowers of spring and summer, he's thinking about the seeds that are being dropped to bloom next year, and not what happened last year. Second, soak up every last bit of goodness at that moment without worrying about what comes next. The woman who personifies autumn in this poem spends her time napping in the fields and watching cider being made. She doesn't fret about winter. Finally, take a snapshot in your mind (or better yet, on paper), so you'll always have a powerful memory to return to. Each of the three stanzas of "To Autumn" is like a different Polaroid put into words, and filled with the light, smells, and sounds of the season.

Sadly, Keats was to become a living example of things coming to an end too soon. He died at the age of 25, only two years after completing this poem.