Human Seasons Essay

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“The Human Seasons” by John Keats As the title, “The Human Seasons” by John Keats, indicates, this entire poem is a metaphor comparing the life of a human with the four seasons of the year. The seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, occur as a continual natural process that cannot be paused or halted, similar to how the stages of human lives are a natural process, and aging cannot be paused or halted. He begins the year with the season of spring, which is compared to the first human stage known as childhood. When people think of spring, the first idea that comes to a person’s head is nature’s beauty because this is the time when plants bloom. To children, everything is beautiful, interesting, and innocent, but at the same time, their minds and bodies are developing in order to understand the world that is surrounding them. Even though they are growing, children do not understand that difficulties can exist in one’s life, thus they are always happy, which is the way a person feels during this season. However, the period of time when flowers are blooming is quick. This symbolizes the idea that childhood is too short and passes quickly into the next stage of life. This next stage of life is known as teen or young adult, whom Keats compares to summer. All of nature has finished blooming. A teen is still young but the mind, along with the physical body, of a young adult is fully developed and has greater intelligence than he or she did as a child. During summer, school is out of session, and there is freedom. The person uses the intelligence and freedom he or she has gained to form potential options that might determine not only the next stage of their lives, but all remaining stages of their lives. The freedom of summer also symbolizes this stage because it is when people leave their own parents and begin a life of their own. This new life might mean a new

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