Sara Valle Marco
Professor Dr. Forés
English Philology
29 November 2007

"The Human Seasons"

ANALYSIS AND COMMENT OF THE POEM IN MY OWN WORDS

I've chosen this poem because I like the idea of writing about the seasons of the year connecting them with the different stages of life.

My first impression is that John Keats also does references to his life within this poem. So, I can appreciate that he had a happy or at least, easy childhood, corresponding with the Spring. Then comes the Summer when we are still young but we also have to start to think over (“ruminate”) the things we do and the things we have done, but this is also a time to open our mind and “ dreaming high” but this stage is as well experimental because we learn from our own experiences.

Afterwards, it comes the Autumn where he talks about the soul, so it is a kind of spiritual stage. In Autumn, we can relax (“quiet coves”)and “close our wings”. In this phase we have to know that the time has passed and that the next stage would be the end so we have to take into account that we are old and close to death.

Finally, comes the Winter when we become “pale” as the landscape of our surroundings and that is the moment when we arrive to our end and there's no way to escape from death.

It's very important, too, the way in which the author can explain the cycle of life in a few verses and the ability of writing a poem about himself but also a poem in which everyone could be identified with, and if we read it candidly, without any interpretation we can find a poem about the pass of time during a year, that is the natural process of life.

"The Human Seasons"