The Human Seasons Analysis

The Human Seasons Analysis

Author:

Title:

Paraphrase:

Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;

There are four seasons in the mind of man:

He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear

Takes in all beauty with an easy span:

He has his Summer, when luxuriously

Spring's honied cud of youthful thought he loves

To ruminate, and by such dreaming high

Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves

His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings

He furleth close; contented so to look

On mists in idleness—to let fair things

Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.

He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,

Or else he would forgo his mortal nature.

John Keats (1795-1821)

English Romantic Poet, 18 century

He was one of the main influential figures of the second generation of Romantic Poets.

Best known for: "Bright Star"

Before: The title itself makes you think of the regular four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. But after some consideration, I came to think that it could possibly be eluding to the four stages of human life: Birth, Childhood, Adulthood, and Death.

There are four seasons in the year and four psychological seasons according to man. There's Spring, when everything is good, easy and beautiful. Next, comes Summer, just when you think that you are in love with Spring, and Summer is like heaven. Then comes Fall, and it's where your soul takes flight. Last, there is Winter, a cold chilling season, but necessary to balance things out. Without it, it wouldn't be the same and neither would we.

Shifts:

Title:

Attitude:

Connotation:

After: The title clues us into the pattern and psychological side of the human existence--physically and psychologically. The psychological side of our existence is our emotions, and how we react to things.

The Shifts occur with the change of the seasons. Spring is bright and light, something that is lovely, but then with the change into summer, there's a new love/joy. When Fall comes in, "His soul has in its Autumn". (If you take this phrase, and the lines around it, dealing with wings, it means his soul takes flight.) The final shift comes with Winter. It changes from its previous "light" attitude, to a more solemn one.

The author's tone is pretty indifferent. Much like stating a truth or a fact. I found the author's attitude to be pretty dreamlike. The tone and attitude was happier through the Spring, Summer, and Autumn portions (mimicking the seasons), but it changed to more solemn with the winter portion. Like with life: When we are younger, everything is dreamlike, but we become more mature and solemn when we are older.

Personally, I think that the "deeper-meaning" of this poem is that life, like the four seasons, has different phases/stages that are all important and necessary for life to exist.

There are four stages, like the seasons:

Spring=Lust and everything is easy and beautiful.

Summer=become youthful, and dream of the future.

Fall= Our soul takes flight, meaning that we are content with who we are and how things are.

Winter=we show our mortality and have misfortunes.

If it weren't the way they were, we would forgo our "mortal nature".

The seasons are a representation of the four stages of our life, and how we react to everything during that set time period.

Other:

Theme:

IAMBIC PENTAMETER

Rhyme scheme: ABABCDCDEFEFGG.

• It has a Slant Rhyme, and a couplet.

Slant Rhyme:

"He has his Summer, when luxuriously

To ruminate, and by such dreaming high"

Couplet:

"He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,

Or else he would forgo his mortal nature."

The Theme is that the four seasons of the natural world, and the four seasons of "our world" (stages of our life) intertwine.

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