The structure of the poem is mainly incorporated in the crucial context of Keats’s imagery, even though the poet did not evidently label it as such. Imagery in the poem is related to all our bodily feelings such as vision, taste, touch, smell and hearing. The author combines different senses in one image to form the composition of the poem. Strachan (2003) says that the poems structure concurrently commemorates the fruitfulness of the spell and offers a nostalgic lament for the transition from spring to summer. The poem structure outlines autumn as the period of produce and accomplishment, taking no notice of its other features such as the indications of winter and demise (Strachan, 2003). The poem does not portray the poet himself but brings out other aspects of his image.
In the poem, the image of the ‘unbounded skies’ is perceived as a sign of political protest against the re-requisition of public property in the contemporary movement (Sandy 2005). Imagery in the poem is depicted by the structural use of words such as “swell” and “plump” to illustrate the rich autumn harvest. Nagar & Prasad (2005) say that John Keats decsribes autumn as if it were a human being. The poet uses imagery to tell the audience how autumn interacts with the sun to make the fruit grow and ripen.
The composition and imagery of the poem create a vivid picture of how flowers develop and thrive in autumn so that even the bees think that autumn days will never end (Nagar & Prasad 2005). The structure of the poem forms images in the minds of the readers when it depicts the ripe fruits and the flora. This contributes positively to the structure and flow of the poem. Nagar & Prasad (2005) state that the images and the structure used in the poem were so attractive that a reader can’t help liking autumn.
