Literature - G.C. E. (O/L) Poems on Life -The Clown's Wife

To the Evening Star

To the Evening Star

By William Blake

 

About the Poet

William Blake was born in London, England, on the 28th of November, 1757, to a middle-class family of artisans (a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand).He was the third of seven children.

The Bible had a great influence on Blake as a child.
William Blake was a very versatile (multitalented) person, being a poet, engraver (someone who cuts designs or words on metal, glass, or wood), painter and printmaker as well as visionary (a person with original ideas about what the future will or could be like). Some consider Blake ‘far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced’. Blake is generally acclaimed for his powerful expression and creativity. 

The Poem

TO THE EVENING STAR

Thou fair-hair'd angel of the evening,
Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light
Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!
Smile on our loves, and while thou drawest the
Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew
On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes
In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on
the lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,
And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon,
Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide,
And then the lion glares through the dun forest:
The fleeces of our flocks are cover'd with
Thy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence!

 

In Greek and Roman mythology, each planet except Earth is named after a god

The Evening star, in other words planet Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty, and fertility (fruitfulness)

planet Venus

Roman goddess of love ,beauty and fertility

 

Glossary

Thou            -     This is an archaic (very old or old-fashioned) word                                equivalent to “you” in modern English.
Thy              -     this is an archaic word equivalent to “your” in                           modern English.
Radiant       -     giving out light
Drawest      -     an archaic word equivalent to “draw” (pull)
Scatter        -     spread

Dusk           -     evening, twilight hours

Dost            -     an archaic word equivalent to “Do”

Withdraw    -     move back, move away

Rage            -     anger, making a roaring sound in anger.

Glare           -     look hard, fixedly looking at something.

Dun         -         grayish brown color
Fleeces     -         wooly covering of a  sheep or goat/
Flock       -         a large number of animals found together.
Sacred      -         holy, highly respected
Dew        -         condensed water drops found in the environment in the                      early hours of the day
Thine       -         an archaic word equivalent to “your”
Influence  -         power, effect

Reading the poem for understanding

Read the first five lines. Note the following.
 
• Reflect on the phrases used by the poet to describe the evening star.

1. How is the evening star described?

2. What does she wear?

3. What does she carry?

4. What actions are attributed to the evening star?

5.  What do the following phrases and lines mean?

 
        1. ‘Light thy bright torch of love’ 
        2. ‘ thy radiant crown put on’ 
        3. ‘smile on our loves’
        4. ‘drawest the blue curtains of the sky’ 
        5. ‘scatter thy silver dew’.

Poetic Devices used in the poem

Apostrophe

The narrator directly addresses the personified Venus as,
 ‘Thou fair haired angle of the evening’.
 The technique used here is called apostrophe, and it is a common way to start an ode

 Ode

 A poem written in the form of addressing something or someone
The title of the poem begins with ‘To’
To the evening star
which portrays the usual heading of an ode, dedicating the appreciation to the personified Venus.

Sonnet 

Sonnet is a poem with fourteen lines with a rhyming couplet
Even though the poem consist of 14 lines the lines do not rhyme together  therefore this can be considered to be
 free verse
However it consist of a metrical pattern

Metaphors

Fair-haired angle
The star is compared to an angel which brought out the beauty of the star

Thy bright torch of love
signifies the dawn of the star

Thy radiant crown
compared to the coming of power

Our evening bed
planet earth invaded by night and where the  innocent creatures rest after a hectic day is compared to evening bed

the blue curtains
The dark clouds are compared to the curtains which are drawn by the evening star with its light

Sweet eyes
The   shutting of the petals of the flowers in the evening  are compare to the closing of eyes

Thy glimmering eyes
The shimmering waters is compared here to a glimmering eyes

Imagery

Visual Imagery
Thou fair-hair’d angel of the evening,
Fair-hair’d  is a visual imagery because it is the colour of hair. We can determine the colour by our sight that the hair is fair by the sunlight of the evening.

Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light
 we can see how the sun shines while it rests on the mountain.

Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Bright and radiant are visual imagery because when it said bright    torch of love, we can imagine that there is a light of love on the torch, that the torch is not extinguished. While radiant crown shows that the crown is very bright, we can assume it is crown of the sun or even gold crown so that it is radiant.

Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew
Blue and silver are both colours. When we read it, blue curtains of    the sky, our mind will fly away to the sky and see a blue bright sky.
usually, we often see dew on the trees. We might assume that dew has no colour, but then in this poem it says that the dew is silver it creates the image of shining droplets of water.

The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,
How can we imagine glimmering eyes? It may be when the eyes teary and light a glow the eyes, it will look like glimmering eyes.

Kinaesthetic Imagery

Kinaesthetic imagery is described by the form of movement or activities happened in the body.
The example of kinaesthetic imagery can be seen from the poem To The

Evening Star by William Blake below:

 Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!
Smile on our loves, and while thou drawest the

Put on and smile are kinaesthetic imagery. Put on, as if we know the movement and also smile that needs movement to curve the lips.

On every  flower that shuts its sweet eyes
Shut is kinaesthetic imagery. By closing eyes, it needs movement of some muscles around the eyes.


And wash the dusk with silver.
Wash is also kinaesthetic imagery. Washing needs to move hands and finger.

Figurative Language

To The Evening Star contains several kinds of figurative language.

Personification
Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light
Sun rests is personification because the word rest unusually uses by things, rest usually used by person. But in this line it can be understood that the sun rests is when the sun goes down and the mountain covers the sun.

On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes.
Flowers do not have eyes so they cannot shut their eyes which is normally people do.

 speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,
The glimmering of the eyes shows the beauty in the silence
Smile upon our evening bed

 Symbolism
Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide,
The wolf is symbol for the night; it has a grey fur, and has an affinity with the dark, the night and also the evil that lingers with the darkness.

And the lion glares thro’ the dun forest
the evil that fixed their eyes towards its prey.
The fleeces of our flocks are cover'd with
flocks symbolize the innocent people who are helpless and should be protected from the evils of the night

Euphemism

the sun rests
is a substitute which replaces setting of the sun and the invading darkness.
It indirectly speak about the upcoming darkness with the fall of the evening
thou drawest the
Blue curtains of the sky
drawing the blue curtains of the sky implies the darkness extinguished by the presence of the star.
On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes
Flowers shutting eyes is a euphemism which indicates the withering of the flowers
In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on
‘timely sleep’ is another euphemism for death

 

Euphemism
A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing to talk about, for example sex, the human body, or death.

‘Passing away.’ for death

Eliminate’ for kill

‘Unique looking’ for ugly

Repetition
  soon full soon
which emphasizes the urgency

Oxymoron

speak silence

which figuratively heightens the stress of the poem

Suggests the request for calmness and tranquillity that should be prevailed in the night

 

Oxymoron
 
 A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction

‘speak silence’
 ‘only choice’
‘deafening silence’
‘sweet sorrow’
‘bitter sweet’
can support a light-hearted mood or tone.

It can emphasize conflict.

The juxtaposition of two opposing words can also add dramatic effect.

 

Alliteration
 Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew

Assonance

Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light

Internal Rhyming
light Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Smile on our loves, and while thou drawest the
Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew

 

Enjambment (Run on line)

“Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

Enjambment (Run on line)

Enjambment is poetic technique when one line of a poem continues onto the next line without any end punctuation. Because ideas flow from one line to the next, it creates a sense of movement and changes the flow of a stanza.

 

Inversion

“Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

This is used in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis

 Inversion

(anastrophe)

Reversal or Change

 in

 normal word order 

 in order to

 achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter

 

Inversion is achieved by doing the following

 

Placing an adjective after the noun it qualifies,

the soldier strong

(Usually adjective comes before the noun - strong soldier)

Placing a verb before its subject 

shouts the policeman

(Usually subject comes before the verb - the policeman shouts)

Placing a noun before its preposition

 worlds between

(Usually preposition comes before the noun - between worlds) 

Appreciating and enjoying the poem
 
• The Evening Star is presented as a goddess (goddess of         love).Which techniques are used   for this purpose?

 • It is suggested that the goddess (Venus) makes the earth     fertile (both land, plant and man).How is this communicated?   

•How does the poet convey the idea that the evening star (Venus) loves the earth and everything in it?

• How does the poet convey the beauty of Venus?

Some thoughts to remember

To the Evening Star is a poem addressed to the first astral body one sees in the sky after sun set. The evening star is also the planet Venus. The roman Goddess of love, beauty and fertility is also called Venus. Blake uses both strands of meaning.

The second and third lines convey the beauty of the evening star which is seen as one solitary star in the evening before moon or other stars mark their presence. Line five introduces the idea of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility.

Evening gives way to night and the evening star is no longer seen. Night is the time of danger/ evil. Ferocious forces prowl in the night. The poet- persona appeals to the goddess to protect the innocents (our flocks) from night prowling predators;

 The wolf rages wide

 and then the lion glares           

 by scattering her sacred dew (like holy water). 

The poet takes the reader through the idea that the evening star is beautiful. Then he introduces the idea that Venus facilitates love and fertility. Her touch is gentle and she cools and beautifies the earth and those who are in it.

Lastly the evening star is looked upon as a power that protects;

 The fleeces of our flocks are cover’d with 

 The sacred dew: protect them with thine influence!

 

 

Reading for developing a critical outlook

 

• The poet merges two concepts -The Evening Star and Venus. How does this association make the poem exciting to read?  

 

• Venus is in turn associated with the forces of goodness and protection. Does this make one think of the many faces of nature? In what way?

 

An assignment for you to work on

 

1) How does the poet address the evening star?

2) What does the poet mean by the blue curtains of the sky?

3) How does the poet say that the ambiance in the night is very    calm and quiet?

4) What poetic technique does the poet use to highlight the change of darkness into silver?

5) How does the poet indicate that the evening star appears only for a short period of time?

6) What words indicate the poet’s uncertainty and fear when the star disappears?

 

        Probable answers for the questions

                      1) Thou fair-haired angle

                      2) The blue sky in the evening

      3) The poet says about the gentle blowing of the  

         west wind and the unruffled waters of the lake     

                      4) Personification; wash the dark with the silver

                      5) Soon full soon dost thou withdraw

                      6) He tells about the sounds of the lions and the                    glares of the wolves

 

The poem brings out how nature can protect our fragile lives. The poet claims that the star protects the people from the violent lion and the raging wolf lurking in the darkness amidst the forest. At the same time, he beautifies and portrays the innocence of nature. The flowers “shut its sweet eyes” brings forth a sweet and subdued tone to the poem.

Furthermore, the poet successfully illustrates how all the elements of nature can come together to create a beautiful, impeccable and perfect situation. For instance, the star shines brightly, the lake reflects the light, and the wind gently blows. These three actions come together to produce a beautiful and stunning scenery which humans can observe and relish. The poet through this poem fosters the feeling of deep appreciation and love for nature. As a result, the reader feels grateful and indebted to nature for providing us with its beauty and care.

 

 

Reference:

Teacher Manual

Internet