Hello friends today we are discuss this question, the question is -What pictures of the two seasons does Keats draw in ‘The Poetry of Earth’? How are the two pictures related?
John Keats, the passionate Nature lover presents two different seasonal pictures. In summer, the blazing rays of the sun lowers the energy level of all the birds. They feel exhausted and stop singing their delightful songs and seek refuge in the cool shade under the leafy boughs of the trees. At this hour a little Grasshopper ‘takes the lead’. The luxurious summer heat does not deter his merriment. His voice is heard from ‘hedge to hedge’ and sometimes when he feels a little breathless he rests beneath ‘some pleasant weed’, and resumes singing with renewed vigour.
In the sestet, winter arrives with an icy cold touch, imposing a death-like silence on the surrounding landscape. All creatures seek the shelter of their own homes. Even then, breaking the painful silence comes the Cricket’s shrill notes from the stove. His joyous song becomes louder every moment as the radiant heat from the stove warms the room. To someone who is half-asleep, the sound reminds of the song of the Grasshopper and the beautiful and bright days of summer. In this way the songs of the two insects blend into one which establishes a continuity in the cycle of season.
These two pictures of two different seasons are closely related. The poet reiterates his belief in the continuity of the cycle of seasons-what the Grasshopper in summer is carried on by the Cricket throughout the long winter till the Grasshopper takes over again. In this manner, Nature continues cyclic order of seasons with her very own minsthels taking upon themselves the responsibility of keeping alive the poetry of earth.