Composed in 1819 and published in a volume of Keats’s poetry that included Lamia and The Eve of Saint Agnes in 1820. ‘To Autumn’ is the final work in a group of poems known as Keats’s ‘1819 odes’. Although he had little time throughout 1819 to devote to poetry because of personal problems, he managed to compose ‘To Autumn’ after he was inspired to write the poem following a walk near Winchester one autumnal evening. The work marks the end of his poetic career as he needed to earn money and could no longer devote himself to the lifestyle of a poet. A little over a year following the publication of ‘To Autumn’, Keats died in Rome. the poem is illustrated by a Renoir painting of Jules le Coeur and his dogs.
1819/England