I think it's really interesting how in Keats' To Autumn, he is able to create a sense of both life and death. At first, Keats praises the beauty that exists in the fall and all of the wonderful things that come from it. He acknowledges the life that exists in the fruit that is "filled with ripeness to the core" (6), and he uses words like "swell" and "plump"(7). Used as verbs, these words bring the nouns to life, proving that he sees the growth that exists in the season. He, like the bees that he describes in line nine, appreciates the warmth that exists in autumn that extends over from summer. His first stanza emphasizes activity that exists in the fall without the mention of any endings. Keats makes the fall an individual when oftentimes it can be seen as the beginning to an end.
Continuing on in his second stanza, he addresses the beauty that comes in the fall just existing. Keats still finds the portion of the fall after the harvest beautiful. He appreciates the smell of the flowers, the appearance of the bare stalks of whatever grain it was in the blowing in the wind, and the overall calm and serenity that exists in this part of the fall. Although he clearly appreciates it, Keats begins to show us that even though enjoyment in the long days can exist, it does mean that there is an end coming. By ending this stanza with "Thou watches the last oozings hours by hours" (22), Keats makes his audience feel the slow, lethargic feelings of colder weather set in. Oozing isn't necessarily a word that one would use to describe a beautiful summer day, instead this word sets the reader up to be slightly more suspicious of where Keats will go to next.
Ending on this slightly discomforting note, Keats moves into the final stanza of the poem. He starts by stating that although there is beauty in the spring, and it exists in autumn as well, the autumn has more melancholic undertones to it. This stanza still appreciates the beauty in the nature of the fall, but by describing the "full-grown lambs" (30), we see an end to life. The spring would mean new beginnings, and the acknowledgment of their lifespan shows the audience that Keats is beginning to think about the end of his own life as well as the end of the warm weather, and the introduction to a colder, more lifeless season.
I agree that the poem is able to project a sense of "life" and "death". I would also argue this presents a larger theme: a transition form "fullness" to "emptiness." There is really a progression throughout the poem, beginning with "mellow fruitfulness" (1) and "plump" hazel shells (7). This suggests a heaviness - a mass. However, at the end of the poem, the gallows are "borne aloft / Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies" (28-29). Everything is lighter, with significantly less "fullness." This is another way to represent death - the mass being sucked out of everything, the absence of an article.
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