Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Ode to Autumn 2

Burne-Jones, The Seasons ~ Autumn

Having lately become addicted to Aputsiaq's beautiful site, A Polar Bear's Tale (http://polarbearstale.blogspot.com/), I thought I would continue my homage to Autumn with a little bit of art and a little bit of music.

Millais - Autumn

Such a beautiful meditative season.


If you could choose a piece of music to suit your favourite season what would it be? Or perhaps a poem?


To Autumn ~

John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.


Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.


Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

2 comments:

Neus said...

I strongly love the second picture, the colours are so nice, the leafs making a little mountain, the women... the poem I can't understand 100% bc English isn't my mother tongue, and with the translator is not the same! Have a nice day!!

Feronia said...

Yes, it's a beautiful picture isn't it. I love the Pre-Raphaelite stuff. Don't worry - having English as a first language is not always a guarantee of understanding poetry! Have a lovely weekend! :)