What similes are used in the poem "To Autumn" by John Keats?
John Keats' "To Autumn" is full of rich figurative language, and similes are certainly included (as a reminder, similes are comparisons that use "like" or "as"). In fact, one of my favorite literary similes occurs in the second stanza of Keats' poem: "And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep / Steady thy laden head across a brook" (19-20). This is a particularly virtuosic example of a simile, as it also includes some elements of personification. Keats compares the season of autumn to a "gleaner," someone who collected any leftover food from a field after the reaper finished his harvest. As such, while this example of figurative language is certainly a simile, it also employs some personification, as Keats is giving autumn human qualities. This example is just one of the masterful ways that Keats uses figurative language to describe the season of autumn, and I'd encourage you to read the piece for yourself to look for the other inventive ways Keats brings autumn to life.