"To Autumn" is a poem written by English Romantic poet John Keats. The work was composed on 19 September 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 has three stanzas, each of eleven lines, that describe the tastes, sights, and sounds of autumn. Much of the third stanza, however, is dedicated to diction, symbolism, and literary devices with negative connotations, as it describes the end of the day and the end of autumn. "To Autumn" includes an emphasis on images of motion, growth, and maturation. The work can be interpreted as a discussion of death, an expression of colonialist sentiment, or as a political response to the Peterloo Massacre. "To Autumn" has been regarded by critics as one of the most perfect short poems in the English literature, and it is one of the most anthologized English lyric poems.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Autumn

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

732:

Charles Martel and the Franks defeated a large Andalusian Muslim army led by Abd er Rahman at the Battle of Tours near Tours and Poitiers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours

1780:

One of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes on record struck the Caribbean Sea, killing at least 22,000 people over the next several days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hurricane_of_1780

1868:

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes made the Grito de Yara, declaring Cuban independence from Spain, sparking the Ten Years' War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Years%27_War

1943:

World War II: The Kempeitai, the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army, arrested and tortured over 50 civilians and civilian internees on suspicion of their involvement in a raid on Singapore Harbour during Operation Jaywick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Tenth_Incident

1973:

United States Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after being charged with tax evasion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew

1982:

Maximilian Kolbe, who had volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz in Poland, was canonized by the Catholic Church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

lickspittle (n): 1. A toady, brown noser, base sycophant. 2. (by extension) The practice of giving empty flattery for personal gain http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lickspittle

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges." --w:Norwegian Nobel Committee http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3ANorwegian_Nobel_Committee