New
New
Year 11
Eduqas

Understanding 'To Autumn'

I can explain how Keats presents the speaker's feelings towards autumn.

New
New
Year 11
Eduqas

Understanding 'To Autumn'

I can explain how Keats presents the speaker's feelings towards autumn.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Keats’ poem is an ode ‘To Autumn’ - a celebration of the penultimate season of the year.
  2. The poem celebrates the bountiful and fruitful nature of the season of the harvest.
  3. Arguably, the poem is a metaphor for human mortality.
  4. In the poem, autumn could represent the later years of a person’s life - when their life begins to wane.
  5. Keats wrote this poem perhaps as a way of coming to terms with his imminent death.

Common misconception

Students may not recognise that this poem is a metaphor for human mortality and the approach of death.

Keats wrote this poem after he had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Perhaps this poem was his way of accepting his own approaching death.

Keywords

  • Ode - a ceremonious and lyrical poem that celebrates a person, thing, place or idea

  • Wane - to weaken/ decrease in strength

  • Harvest - the collecting of crops for food

  • Acceptance - the general agreement that something is right, or the way it is supposed to be

  • Mortality - the state of being vulnerable to death

It might be useful to physically map out the seasons of a person's life against the seasons of the year to help pupils understand the metaphor in the poem.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
In the UK, what tends to happen during the season of autumn?
The temperature increases.
The sun shines more.
Correct answer: The temperature drops.
Flowers bloom.
Correct answer: Leaves fall off trees.
Q2.
Which of the following do we associate with the season of autumn?
warmth
Correct answer: cosiness
Correct answer: calm
excitement
Q3.
Which of the following colours might we associate with the season of autumn?
blue
green
Correct answer: red
purple
Correct answer: orange
Q4.
What is the harvest?
the process of making bread
the process of making cider
Correct answer: the process of gathering mature crops for food
the process of gathering twigs for thatched roofs
Q5.
What is personification?
exaggeration or exaggerated statements, not meant to be taken literally
Correct answer: attribution of human characteristics to non-human things
attribution of human emotions to nature
a figure of speech that involves comparing two things using the verb "to be"
Q6.
What kind of mood is created in the following line from Keats' 'To Autumn': "Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn"?
Correct answer: a sombre mood
an optimistic mood
a joyous mood
a sinister mood

6 Questions

Q1.
Who wrote 'To Autumn'?
Correct answer: John Keats
Wilfred Owen
Imtiaz Dharker
Lord Byron
Q2.
How does the speaker describe autumn in 'To Autumn'?
as a barren time of emptiness
Correct answer: as a lush time of ripeness
as bleak time of despair and disappointment
Q3.
What does the word "to" in the title 'To Autumn' tell us?
that Keats was a Romantic poet
Correct answer: that the poem is an ode
that autumn is a metaphor in the poem
Correct answer: that the poem is dedicated to someone or something
Q4.
What method does Keats use in the following line from 'To Autumn': "Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind"?
onomatopoeia
caesura
Correct answer: personification
simile
Q5.
Which of the following statements justifies this reading of the poem 'To Autumn': "Keats’ poem can be read as a metaphor for accepting one’s own death"?
Keats was young when he wrote the poem, so he had lots of life left.
Correct answer: We know that Keats was coming to terms with having tuberculosis.
The final line suggests that Keats seems to fear the approaching winter.
Correct answer: Keats seems to find peace with the passing of time in the poem.
Q6.
Match the vocabulary up to its definition.
Correct Answer:ode,a lyrical poem that celebrates a person, thing or place

a lyrical poem that celebrates a person, thing or place

Correct Answer:to wane,to weaken/ decrease in strength

to weaken/ decrease in strength

Correct Answer:harvest,the collecting of crops for food

the collecting of crops for food

Correct Answer:acceptance,the general agreement that something is right, or the way it should be

the general agreement that something is right, or the way it should be

Correct Answer:mortality,the state of being vulnerable to death

the state of being vulnerable to death