On Punctuation in "To Autumn"

Travis Hiland

The comma / m-dash construction in Keats' "To Autumn" (below) is both forward leaning and rearward reflecting. The comma binds the first phrase with the two following phrases propelling them forward, aggregating the images into a vivid complete thought. Here are the phrases without the m-dash:

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, while barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, and touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;

The m-dash honors, with solemn respect, the question about the songs of Spring that came just before. It creates a moment of silence to absorb in reverence the venerable beauty of Autumn, a season that stands at least equal to the excitement and joyful music of Spring, and is worthy of praise in its own right.

The songs of Spring, those happy anthems that celebrate life renewed, are nowhere to be found, and yet, here is beauty, here in Autumn is celebration of life, here and now is music enough to inspire and delight without waiting for Spring.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;  

Keats then follows with a sensuous catalog of musical imagery proofs. Such is the power of a small punctuation mark.

Kenzi Mortensen

Actions for reply by Kenzi Mortensen

February 8 at 10:15 PM

Help Correctly Reading Punctuation

I agree with the professor in the clip that punctuation, and following the punctuation when read aloud, is crucial. Not doing so can change the meaning entirely. It reminded me of several simple signs my high school English teacher had hanging in her classroom. One read, “Let’s eat Grandpa. Let’s eat, Grandpa.” And below in smaller words it read, “Correct punctuation can save a person’s life.” Another read, “We are going to learn to cut and paste kids!” After which, it said, “Commas matter.” Although these are simplistic ideas, these ideas are expounded on in poetry. Learning to read hard and soft pauses, depending on the type of punctuation provided, can just as easily change the meaning as forgetting to write a comma into a sentence.

I know we were supposed to come up with our own argument as to why the punctuation, or reading of the punctuation changes the meaning, but I chose to use “To Autumn,” by John Keats, and with this poem I really wasn’t sure. I thought would throw this question out to the class.

How does a person differentiate hard, harder, soft, softer, etc.? A period is a hard pause. A comma is a much softer pause.  What about when punctuation is intermingled? How does a person decide how much or little emphasis to put on the pause? A great example of this is:

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn  

 Should the comma hyphen be given as much emphasis as the semi colon? If so, why not put a semicolon there? How do you differentiate pauses when there are so many different punctuation all within the same poem?