Journal 20

In this poem named Autumn the founding characteristics of romanticism are abundantly obvious. It also has a sleuth of meaning to it. It starts out by having autumn being announced by rain and wind. Autumn appears brighter than the brightest silks, and better than the best oxen. Autumn stands like a king on a bridge made of gold, who reaches out and blesses farms with bountiful harvest. As it walks the farmers praise it with prayer and applause. Alters of produce stand like a flaming shrine honoring autumn. That's the general synopsis of the story. This is most certainly a romanticism based poem as it has several of the characteristics. For one it describes in great detail the nature of nature and what not. I mean the poem is about autumn. It doesn't get much more nature related than that. It also praises nature a lot. It basically says that the plebeians worship autumn as if it were a king, which leads me to another point. This guy tends to personify autumn a lot. Autumn can not stand, and it most certainly can not reach out its hand, as it has no feet to stand on, or a hand to reach out with, or a physical manifestation at that. Also there was a simile where it said "Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves;" (Longfellow). Just another literary device in there. I do not believe that there is any of that troublesome material that some lesser being based beings would refer to it as being mythology. A Charlemagne is mentioned, but upon further research I discovered that he actually existed, and is another source that I have to cite. I also do not see any youthful innocence in this particular piece of poetry. That disturbs me as you may be leading me astray with all of your stuff about these poems. Disregard that last statement. I feel that autumn is not very youthful or innocent as it is a force of nature and not a person, but could be personified in that way but I see a lack in that.

"Charlemagne's Biography." Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournaments Resource Library. Web. 10 Dec. 2011.

"Sonnets. Autumn. The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1893. Complete Poetical Works." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 10 Dec. 2011.