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-brimmed their clammy cells.
These are the concluding lines of the first stanza of "To Autumn" by John Keats, a famous poet of the Romantic period. These are highly onomatopoeic lines, which suggest the intended meaning by a matching sound.
These lines occur after a description of the bounty of autumn. The personified autumn offers ripe grapes and apples. She also offers swelled gourd, plump and hazelnuts. She makes them fill with sweet juice in collaboration with the sun. She brings all the fruits on earth to maturity for harvesting. She manages the "later flowers" to bloom so that bees can procure honey and restore it to their honeycomb before the advent of winter. Preparation of the bees for the winter suggests the death or end of their activities for some time. It means the death of warm weather and death of a year. It also implies the beginning of a new year. The buzzing sound of the bees has been imitated by the repetition of the 'z' sound. The buzzing sound of the bees indicates their business in collecting honey. Their activities will end completing a cycle of the year. In compliance with the total design of the poem, the poet here in these lines very objectively portrays the bounty of nature as well as mutability of natural things.
