Form 4 English Literature Set 1

Critical Analysis Assignment

Laurice Wong 4W (34)
1. What do Ode to a Nightingale and To Autumn have to say about the relationship between
nature and art?
In Ode to a Nightingale, Keats expresses his view that nature and art are both types of
indulgences that allow one to escape the pain of human life and the harsh sorrows of reality.
On his evaluation of his own existence in stanza 1, Keats believed that life was an
overwhelming pain to the point of numbness; and in stanza 3, he depicts human life in
general as sorrowful and burdensome- the constant futility in achieving happiness and the
elusiveness of beautiful and pleasurable things, such as youth and love. After deciding
against adopting alcohol as his mode of escape, he introduces Poetry (a representative of art
in this ode), allegorized as Poesy, along with the nightingale, which represents music, as
another form of escape in stanza 4. This introduction is interwoven with detailed
descriptions of the lush, beautiful and wild nature- for example, ...haply the Queen Moon is
on her throne, clustered around by her starry fays, which describes a pristine night sky with
a luminous moon and countless of starts; and the breezes blown through verdurous
glooms and winding mossy ways, which pictures the moist and fecund lushness of a forest
in the dark uncontaminated by human foil. In stanza 5, in which Keats experiences complete
indulgence in art, and rich olfactory imageries of flora and fauna accompanies his aesthetic
enchantment; for example endows the grass, the thicket, the fruit tree wild and white
hawthorn, pastoral eglantine. This further accentuates the analogous quality of art and
nature in this ode, and points out that both subjects possessed a wild beauty and divinity of
its own that functions to allay the weariness and despairs of human existence.
Moreover, art can also be seen as a human attempt to capture the beauty of nature- a
method through which humans are able to relate themselves to Mother Nature. Again,
immortality of both art and nature is also explored- the nightingales music endures time,
history and its various audiences unchanged, and remains heart- wrenchingly beautiful and
joyful to Keats, as the undisturbed pulchritude of nature does.
However, the Ode also points out that ones total indulgence in both would result in a
near- death experience. He describes it as a state of existence in which one can only purely
enjoy physically and sensually, but loses the ability to think critically and lay down judgment
on the value of the very subject of ones indulgence. Keats believed that without clear
consciousness and the ability to form judgment, the human appreciation of pure nature and
art becomes meaningless- and thus, it is only through active appreciation and enjoyment of
the human consciousness that nature and art carries true significance.

In To Autumn, Keats illustrates a picture of brimming abundance of harvest during

autumn. Imageries of ripe and heavy fruits and full, bursting crops reaches a breaking point
towards the end of Stanza 1, which introduces human intervention into nature- the autumn
harvest. Through the reaping of the fruits of Mother Nature, the autumn crop is transformed
into useful objects of daily significance to humans- for example, in stanza 2, by a cyder
press watchest the last oozings hours by hours., apples are brewed into cider for the
enjoyment of HOMOSAPIENS. Keats reiterates his point through the above imagery that the
gifts of nature and its abundance of crops and life will eventually rot and be reduced useless
without the intervention of humans. Even if nature produces a plenitude of crops, it will
make no contribution to anything whatsoever if harvest does not take place. Only by reaping
the fruits of nature can mankind thrive; and by receiving the provision of the food resources,
humans can further refine them into delicacies and other higher indulgences (ie. the apple
cider). Keats also applied a similar concept to art- he believed that if artists do not put effort
in fathoming their thoughts into actual works of art and formulating their experiences and
ideas into pieces, the audience will not be able to judge and appreciate its artistic value, and
thus becomes meaningless to the general good of mankind. In other words, the sharing of
art for the collective indulgence and critique of the public is an imperative responsibility of
an artist in Keats point of view, which is again closely interconnected to the human role in
nature.

2.

Explain the significance of the two female figures in To Autumn and La Belle Dame sans
Merci.
In To Autumn, the female figure is an allegorized personification of autumn. She

conspires with her close bosom friend, the Sun, to bless humans with land rife with fruits
and crops. Here, the female figure Autumn can also be interpreted as nature itself,
presented as a life- giving character that supplies humans with their needs. Keats
deliberately avoided any allegorization of any other characters besides autumn in order to
eschew sexual and mythical connotations that might affect the focus of the poem, which is
characterization of autumn as purely motherly figure. In the 2nd stanza, Autumn takes no
active part in own harvest; rather, she oversees her own dissolution and is willing to let
humans turn her own harvest into meaningful products. She was seen sitting carelessly in a
granary floor with her hair soft lifted by the winnowing wind; and she keep steady her
laden head across a brook, dozing gently as humans ravage the fruits of her hard work.
Autumn is thus seen to be a sacrificial, selfless figure that dedicates her efforts for the
interest of humans, as a mother does for her children. This characterization is further
mobilized in the third stanza. The animals and insects of autumn mourn the passing of the
season as if she were their mother. These animals and insects are portrayed as small
helpless orphans- the somewhat awkward diction in lines wailful choir of small gnats and

full grown lambs loud bleat suggests that these children of nature were young, immature,
and desperate in seeking their mother, autumn. In conclusion, the eager and helpful figure
of autumn trying to bless the land with fruits as large and ripe as possible in stanza 1, to the
unresisting and selflessly giving motherly characterization in stanza 2, and finally the
illustration the mourning of autumns children after autumns dissolution all echo the
natures role as the mother of mankind and the source of human life, further illustrating its
giving and kind character in To Autumn.
In La Belle Dame Sans Merci, the depicted female figure becomes the antithesis of that
in To Autumn. She was illustrated as a young, seductive and sexual being- her hair was long,
her foot was light, and her eyes were wild. She apparently possessed supernatural powers
that hold men in thrall, and is capable of eliciting the most primal sexual desires from men.
This can be seen from the knights helpless infatuation with her beauty- he made a garland
for her head, and bracelets too- an unusual yet sickeningly amorous act of love for a person
of such high social standing and masculinity. The shift of pronoun from I to she in
stanzas 4-6 to 7-9 also shows her ability to slowly trap and rapture men, causing them to
lose their rationale and sensibility. Her unearthly identity as an elf or a fairy- like creature
are demonstrated in the lines a faerys child, language strange and mentions of her
elfin grot. On the other hand, she can be understood as a personification of romantic love
and sexual desire. The effect of the Belle Dame on the knight seems to be reminiscent of the
effect of love on humans- the initial fascination and infatuation that causes one to lose all
abilities to judge clearly and act rationally, the immense happiness and indulgence, and
inability to focus on anything but the subject of romantic interest. Then it is followed by the
later disenchantment and heartbreak- falling out of love- that leads to the hopelessness,
desolation and dreariness of ones life, similar to that of the knights fate in the first and last
stanzas.
3.

Compare and contrast the imagery of nature and vegetation in stanza 5 of Ode to a
Nightingale and Stanza 1 of To Autumn.
Ode to a Nightingale employs an abundance of olfactory imagery to describe the

overwhelming sweetness of flowers, as the poet loses his sense of sight. He guesses each
sweet wherewith the seasonable month endows the grass, the thicket, the fruit tree wilddescribing the saccharine, cloying scent of flowers and vegetation that led him to guess the
types of flowers present in his bower. He later discovers that there were white hawthorn,
pastoral eglantine; fast fading violets, a soft incense depicts their mellow ; the coming
musk rose, full of dewy wine compares the roses fragrance to wine emphasizes the
overbearing fullness of the flowers scent. The dreaminess and softness of the flowers can
be realized through the imagery of soft flower petals- violets coverd up the leaves in
layers. Finally, there is the introduction of auditory imagery, the murmurous haunt of flies

on the summer eves that introduces the more ominous and sinister themes of the latter
stanzas.
In To Autumn, the fullness and ripeness of harvest, and the abundance of crops are
the main focus of the imagery. The repeated infinitive to that describes the action of
autumns in preparation for harvest- to bend with apples and to swell the gourd are
phrases that imply the action of blessing the land with full, sweet crops was done repeatedly,
leading to the general abundance and plenitude of fruit and crop. The choice of verbs
illustrates the fullness, heaviness and enormous number of the crops produced by autumn;
verbs such as swell, plump, bend and fill adds to the imagery of large, ripe and heavy
fruits hanging seductively on the trees, awaiting human harvest. The application of
assonance such as the use of full consonants like o, -ell, a, oer accentuates the large
and brimming cells of fruit and crop, and the alliteration of b sounds such as budding
bees and bend imitates the round, bell like fullness of the harvest. The general
direction of the poem also contributes to the overall imagery of the poetry. The magnitude
of action in the stanza continues to increase throughout, the imagery of fruits and
crops increasing in size and growing fuller, riper and sweeter until it reaches the breaking
point in the last line - the flesh of fruits ooer brimming their clammy cells.that ends the
stanzas imagery with an explosive finale.
4.

Comment on the form of La Belle Dame sans Merci

La Belle Dame sans Merci is the form of a lyrical/ folk ballad.It is composed of twelve

quartrains of identical structure, with an ABCB rhyme scheme. The segregation of the entire
story that the poem tells into 12 smaller segments makes the overall form of the poem
more musical and rhythmic, as if a song. It also facilitates the flow of narration by instilling
clear transitions and modulations of atmosphere. Also, the deliberately shortened fourth
line of each quatrain functions to increase the pace of the story and keeps the story close
knitted. Furthermore, the sudden truncation of the flow of narration after every stanza
imitates the quick pace and unpredictability of romantic love and amorous relationships.
There is a shift of the subject or pronoun in stanzas 4-6 to stanzas 7-9. In stanzas 4-6,
the knight meets the belle dame is enraptured by her ethereal beauty. The main action is
still conducted by the knight in these stanzas as he recalls his attempts on wooing the
maiden. He makes garlands for her head, and bracelets too, then set her on his pacing
steed, actively engaging in his making love with the maiden. However, stanzas 7-9 depicts a
picture of the maiden overpowering the knight, as the main subject of the poem shifts to the
belle dame herself, while the knight becomes passive and inactive, allowing la belle dame to
find him roots of relish sweet, and honey wild, and manna dew and taking him to her
elfin grot, and ending with the maiden lulling him to sleep, thus completing the process of
his complete indulgence and oblivion in his love of the belle dame.