Pantheism In John Keats's Ode To Autumn

The Romantic period, dating from the mid eighteenth century to the mid nineteenth, was brought upon by the industrial revolution. The huge changes in technology helped many people become rich, but also made the poor poorer. Many families were torn apart, and houses destroyed to make way for the new factories being installed, meaning the loss of income by thousands of people. This made many people long for the simple life of the past, without all the industrialization of civilisation but with the peace of Nature. This longing for the past made many people stand up against the new technologies, and many works of art, poetry and literature were made. These works rebelled against the conventional way to write and create, while influencing others …show more content…
Pantheism is the idea of God living in, and being in, Nature. Romantics thought the path to true inner peace and inspiration was finding God through Nature, and treating Nature with respect above all else. Keats displays this in Ode to Autumn by personifying nature as a beautiful woman, and describes how this woman is asking the sun to help her ripen all the fruits and plants, while making everything mature. In the Romantic period, the sun was thought to be God, as God brings life as well as the sun. This idea shows the true meaning behind the connection between Nature and the sun in this poem stating how God and Nature are …show more content…
“Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;” on line 2 is Keats stating how Nature and God (as the sun represents God) are very close friends, and showing the idea of Pantheism by saying Nature isn’t just Nature, but a spiritual entity. On line three the use of the word bless further cements the idea of spirituality found in nature. From lines 4-7, this woman that represents nature continues to ask the sun, which is god, to make all the plants and fruits mature. This isn’t only brining a sense of peace, as everything is reaching its end, but gives us a personal insight into the poet and how Keats views life while having the disease tuberculosis.

A second, equally important ideal in Ode to Autumn is the ideal of individuality, and exploring one’s self through the imagination found in Nature. Romantics believed that the true way to connect with yourself, and in turn find peace, enlightenment and sparks of imagination was through being in solitude with Nature. They wanted to be away from the world of civilised man and connect back with Nature, like humans had in the past. This ideal is displayed again through the image of Nature personified as a beautiful woman, and her actions. The woman is alone with Nature, connecting with Nature as well as