Question

Which two lines in this excerpt from John Keats's "Ode to Autumn" reflect the theme of growth and maturation? Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells. Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep, Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cider-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Answer 1

The two lines that reflect the theme of growth and maturation in this excerpt are: "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun" and "Or by a cider-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours". The first line expressed the theme by two key phrases "mellow fruitfulness" and "maturing sun", as fruitfulness is often use as a theme for spiritual maturity. The second line tell us about "with patient look" and watching the last oozings hours by hours, those are characteristics of elderly people that patiently look how the world around them moves, while they live they last days quietly.

Answer 2

The two lines are..

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

&

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells