Starter quiz
- In the UK, what tends to happen during the season of autumn?
- the temperature increases
- the sun shines more
- the temperature drops ✓
- flowers bloom
- leaves fall off trees ✓
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- Which of the following do we associate with the season of autumn?
- warmth
- cosiness ✓
- calm ✓
- excitement
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- Which of the following colours might we associate with the season of autumn?
- blue
- green
- red ✓
- purple
- orange ✓
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- What is the harvest?
- the process of making bread
- the process of making cider
- the process of gathering mature crops for food ✓
- the process of gathering twigs for thatched roofs
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- What is personification?
- exaggeration or exaggerated statements, not meant to be taken literally
- attribution of human characteristics to non-human things ✓
- attribution of human emotions to nature
- a figure of speech that involves comparing two things using the verb "to be"
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- What kind of mood is created in the following line from Keats' 'To Autumn': "Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn"?
- a sombre mood ✓
- an optimistic mood
- a joyous mood
- a sinister mood
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Exit quiz
- Who wrote 'To Autumn'?
- John Keats ✓
- Wilfred Owen
- Imtiaz Dharker
- Lord Byron
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- How does the speaker describe autumn in 'To Autumn'?
- as a barren time of emptiness
- as a lush time of ripeness ✓
- as bleak time of despair and disappointment
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- What does the word "to" in the title 'To Autumn' tell us?
- that Keats was a Romantic poet
- that the poem is an ode ✓
- that autumn is a metaphor in the poem
- that the poem is dedicated to someone or something ✓
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- What method does Keats use in the following line from 'To Autumn': "Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind"?
- onomatopoeia
- caesura
- personification ✓
- simile
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- Which of the following statements justifies this reading of the poem 'To Autumn': "Keats’ poem can be read as a metaphor for accepting one’s own death"?
- Keats was young when he wrote the poem, so he had lots of life left.
- We know that Keats was coming to terms with having tuberculosis. ✓
- The final line suggests that Keats seems to fear the approaching winter.
- Keats seems to find peace with the passing of time in the poem. ✓
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- Match the vocabulary up to its definition.
- ode⇔a lyrical poem that celebrates a person, thing or place ✓
- to wane⇔to weaken/ decrease in strength ✓
- harvest⇔the collecting of crops for food ✓
- acceptance⇔the general agreement that something is right, or the way it should be ✓
- mortality⇔the state of being vulnerable to death ✓
Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Keats’ poem is an ode ‘To Autumn’ - a celebration of the penultimate season of the year.
- The poem celebrates the bountiful and fruitful nature of the season of the harvest.
- Arguably, the poem is a metaphor for human mortality.
- In the poem, autumn could represent the later years of a person’s life - when their life begins to wane.
- Keats wrote this poem perhaps as a way of coming to terms with his imminent death.
Common misconception
Students may not recognise that this poem is a metaphor for human mortality and the approach of death.
Keats wrote this poem after he had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Perhaps this poem was his way of accepting his own approaching death.
Keywords
Ode - a ceremonious and lyrical poem that celebrates a person, thing, place or idea
Wane - to weaken/ decrease in strength
Harvest - the collecting of crops for food
Acceptance - the general agreement that something is right, or the way it is supposed to be
Mortality - the state of being vulnerable to death
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