Autumn，the Autumn of the Capitalism

【Abstract】The ode “To Autumn” written by Keats in September of 1819，seemingly describes the work and effect of Autumn on specific aspects of nature.Indeed，the poet wants to satire the capitalism in his contemporary times by singing the praises of a season bestowed with the ability to bless.Its known to the word that the autumn is the climax of the year.While the capitalism in that time is in the state like the autumn，reaching the peak of its development.The word “climax” means the beginning of the down.So Keats pretending to praise autumn，in fact，implies a prophet given to his contemporary capitalism： although the autumn harvests all in the world，what the capitalism has achieved is preparing itself for death like the autumns malevolent job of being ready for wintry death.

【Key words】Autumn； capitalism

1.The fruitful autumn falling on the capitalism

Fry believes that all of literature comprises one complete and whole story called the monomyth.This monomyth can be diagramed as a circle containing four separate phases，with each corresponding to a season of the year and to peculiar cycles of human experience.The Romance phase，located at the top of the circle，is our summer story.In this story，all our wishes are fulfilled，and we can achieve total happiness.At the bottom of the circle is winter or Anti-romance phase.The opposite of the summer，this phase tells us the story of bondage，imprisonment，frustration，and fear.Midway between Romance and Anti-romance and to the right of the middle of the circle is spring or Comedy.This phase，relates the story of our rise from Anti-romance and frustration to freedom and happiness.Correspondingly，across the circle is Tragedy or fall，narrating our fall from the romance phase and from happiness and freedom to disaster.According to Fry，all stories can be placed somewhere on this diagram.

Based on the theory provided by Fry，the author of this essay thinks that some poems，especially To Autumn，can be placed somewhere on the above diagram.But the author will have a try to change the diagram in order to serve this essay.That is，the fruitful fall，located at the top of the circle，the climax of the development of all things，resembles all fulfilled wishes and total achieved happiness.While the spring put at the bottom of the circle，indicates the beginning of all the things.The midway between spring and fall is summer，the phase of the development between the rise and the peak of the things development.And the opposite of the summer is the winter，the death，in the left of the diagram.

To Autumn is written in the period of the capitalism.Having experienced the development of its spring and summer，the capitalism reaches its peak.In the poem，the fruitful autumn is the autumn of the capitalism.

From the stanza one of the poem，the harvest sight is seen everywhere in autumn.“season of mellow fruitfulness”，a general praise given by the poet，has reflected the main colors and characteristics of the autumn.The mossed cottage-trees with ripe fruits unbearable weight，the busy sight of harvest implied by the winnowing wind and the granary floor，have drawn out a beautiful image of the autumn.In order to celebrate the season of the harvest，“gnats sing”，“lambs loud bleat”，“hedge-crickets sing”，“the redbreast whistles”，and “swallows twitter”，cooperated each other and played a chorus of autumn.

The fruitful autumn also fell on the poets contemporary capitalism.Marxists hold a firm belief that any thing must experience the course： budding，development，climax and declining.There is no exception with the history of the capitalism，which should follow the trait of the development.At end of the feudal period，came out a new thing---the capitalism.Because of its superiority to the feudalism，the capitalism was beloved by the ordinary.The capitalists caught the chance of taking advantage in the ordinary to serve them and create the material wealth for them.When the quantity of the wealth reaches the full state，it indicates that the capitalism come to the peak of its development.From the following verse in To Autumn “To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees，and fill all fruit with ripeness to the core”，the climax of the capitalism，that is，the autumn of the capitalism，had arrived in the poets contemporary eyes.So what Keats described the autumn was the busy sight of the capitalists mowing harvest---cumulating the wealth created by the people.And all of the natures creatures seemingly joined in the chorus of the autumn，to sing a song of the autumn to celebrate the achievements of the capitalism.

2.The declining autumn preparing wintry death for the capitalism

According to the digam adjusted by the author of this essay，the autumn arrives at the peak of its development.The next trait of the development will follows from the top of the map to the left midway---the winter.So the general movement of the autumns following development is declining，and at last，declining to the death.To Autumn having praised the fruitful autumn of the capitalism，it implied a death prepared for the capitalism.

One characteristics of the autumn is its “mists”.Autumn makes use of the mists in an attempt to cover its actions that will threaten other parts of the nature.Under the cover of the mists，the autumn apparently recognizes that the nature has no doubts on its action so that it can finish the work without frightening nature.The mists is also the main clothe of the capitalism.Wearing the coat made of the mists，the capitalists can firmly guarantee that the ordinary will not know the truth of their conspiracy---cheating them to serve the capitalism.On such condition，can the capitalists obtain more and more wealth produced by the workers.

However，the mists of the autumn have a weak point，that is，it is too thin.So the autumns thoughts that the other part of the nature must remain unsuspecting of its behavior are completely wrong，so is the capitalists.The clothes made of mists also exists a weak point---it is so thin that the people with a pair of bright eyes can see through the body of the capitalism.The more people have bright eyes，the more dramatically that the capitalism will decline.At last，it never escapes away from the fate of the death.

Another main characteristics of the autumn mentioned in To Autumn is its mellowness，showing its ability to pleasantly intoxicate its environ.Now that the word mellow has riped the fruit to core，it actually implies a mellow capitalism living a luxurious life.Since the fruit shares the suns maturing greedily，it will suffer the pain brought by the mellow---its decaying.Though the mellow fruit created by the workers has satisfied the life of the capitalism，it will decay the system of the capitalism from the out into the inner.The capitalists obtaining the wealth greedily must intoxicate the system of the capitalism.The more wealth the capitalists absorb greedily，the more decayed the capitalism is.Eventually，the capitalism will decay like the fruits decaying from the outside into the inside.

Since the fruitful comes，the capitalism will “load” the fruit home.The word “loaded” in the verses has the somewhat negative connotation of being overfilled，being weighted or tampered with，thus implying a trick or trap.What they leave the ordinary is nearly nothing.The workers live a sad life，and the majority of them are hungry.So a piece of bread is like a big dinner for them.The word “load” exposes the nature of the stingy and greed capitalism.What follows the “load” is the “bless”.The order of the above words chosen by the poet suggests that nature is blessed to have been loaded.The capitalism having loaded all the fruit，what the ordinary load is the “bless”---blessing the new things coming.Therefore，such fecundity and such blessing serve as an invisible hand controlling the prescribed destiny of the capitalism.

“And still more，later flowers for the bees，Until they think warm days will never cease，For summer has oer-brimmed their clammy cells.” The “later flowers” produced by autumn attracted the bees so much that they misthought the “warm days will never cease” for summer.Indeed，it is a trap of the autumn.Have been seduced from their sleep by autumns masterful work，they will be killed in the days that follow by winters cold.The bees actually represent the working-class.In order to gain the more material wealth，the capitalism designs a trap for the workers by lying and cheating to prolong their working time.The capitalism produces a false phenomenon so real that the workers believe the summer of the capitalism will never cease.Once they jump into the trap，they like the bees will consume up their energy and then die in a sad life under the strict supervision of the capitalism.Despite the faint summers color added in the autumn，the capitalism will never get rid of the fate of dying.When the capitalists can share the achievement of their great work，they are also bound to share the sorrow produced by themselves.In case that all the workers die，the death of the capitalism will approach.

When the capitalism finishes the task of harvesting the autumn，they will have the spare time to share the comfortable life.In Stanza two of the poem，Keats describes： “thee sitting careless on a granary flool”.Here，“thee” refers to the autumn，in depth，to the capitalism.Under such state，the mood of the capitalism is in a relaxed state.They will take pride in their achievement and have no sense of the danger.At the critical moment，the good chance for the ordinary comes---they will turn over the capitalism to establish a new government for themselves.The enjoyable days for the capitalism mean their death because the revolution storm-snow will come.

The chorus played by all of the natures creatures is not only a song of the autumn but also an opening of the new thing---a new government serving for them.All the different kinds of the creatures sing indeed harmoniously sung out one wish of the ordinary.They happily celebrated the end of the autumn and the birth of the new thing---the communism.So the chorum played for the autumn of the capitalism actually is a prelude of the communism.

3.Conclusion

Generally speaking，To Autumn of three stanzas consists of the three images of the autumn.The stanza one pictures the image of the fruitful autumn falling on the capitalism.The stanza two describes the relaxed the autumn---the image of the capitalists comfortable life when they gained the harvest of the autumn.And the last one sings the opening of the chorum of the autumn to celebrate the autumn of the capitalism for its achievement，and meanwhile，to announce that the new things coming will substitute the decayed and helpless capitalism.To Autumn has witnessed the trait of the later life of the capitalisms development，though the poem stays in the season of the autumn.Autumn，the autumn of the capitalism，reflects a whole history of the capitalism from its spring，to summer，and to the fall，and eventually to the winter.The development of the capitalism is in accordance with the theory of the maxim---anything will experience the four phases： born，develop，peak，death.However，the top of the diagram adjusted by the author---the autumn，has a good explanation of the history of the capitalism.The autumn of the capitalism seemingly loaded all the fruit； in fact，it was digging a grave for itself.

References：

[1]Charles E.Bressler.Literary Criticism.Higher Education Press.Beijing，2004.

[2]Frye，Northrop.Anatomy of Criticism.Princeton： Princeton UP，1957.

作者简介：

商滔，硕士研究生，研究方向：英语语言文学，工作单位：金华广播电视大学。