Welcome to the third edition of Poetry
and Painting
For this third blog I
have selected a poem written by John Keats (1795-1821). It was suggested by my friend, Ellie
Densen, who majored in English literature, is still an avid reader, and resides in Iowa:
TO
AUTUMN.
1.
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.
2.
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.
3.
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.
My painted response to this poem was a work I began en plein air in Western NC in early fall. As I recall painting it I could feel some of Keats' description of impending Autumn, especially “thy laden head across a brook”. So I decided to go back to this piece and finish it with that sense of place and time in mind.
For information about the
above painting and my art in general,
please visit ...
I welcome you to sign up (under my profile in the email box) for this twice-a-month blog and share it with your friends who
might be interested. AND I invite you to (continue) to send favorite
photos you have taken and writings (inspiring, thought provoking, or
humorous) to me at kmeredithart@gmail.com.
Feel free to add personal comments and links to your own images related
to this posting. I would like to make this creatively interactive!
Posts
