Speaker and characters

The poem “To Autumn” by John Keats features an unnamed lyrical speaker and a personified character, the season autumn. 

The speaker

The speaker in the poem can be considered a lyrical persona of the author himself, of John Keats. Unlike the speakers in Keats’ other odes, who are more concerned with themselves, the speaker in “To Autumn” is solely concerned with the season.  

The speaker addresses and praises autumn as a harvest goddess and he seems content to simply observe and enjoy autumn’s effects on the natural landscape (on fruits, crops, etc.). But certain lines also hint that the speaker longs (is melancholic) for the past seasons:

Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.  (ll. 10-11)

The speaker comes across as a person who can appreciate beauty and find it even in a season which reminds him of the passages of time and endings. He is thus accepting of the inevitable ...