ANALYSIS OF POEM "TO THE EVENING STAR"

ANALYSIS OF WILLIAM BLAKE'S "TO THE EVENING STAR"

By Atikah Rahmawati

 

Abstract 

In this paper, the writer try to analyze a poem, entitled "To the Evening Star" written by William Blake. The purpose of this writing is to appreciate and to analyze the using of personification, symbolism, and kinesthetic imagery on the poem. To analyze the poem, the writer uses imagery and figurative language theories. From analyzing the poem, the writer wants to share the expression from the poem. It can be concluded that imagery and figurative language are the main role of the poem.

Keyword: William Blake, Imagery, Figurative Language

1. Introduction
According to Charles Mills Gayley and Clement C. Young inn their book Introduction to The Principles and Progress of English Poetry (1904:43), poetry is “the imaginative and emotive expression or suggestion of that which has significance, in the rhythmical and preferably metrical medium of language appropriate to the subject.”. In addition to the definition of poetry, Laurence Perrine stated in his book Sounds and Sense (1969:3), that “Initially, poetry might be defined as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language”. From those explanation, the writer conclude that poetry is a literary work that can be understood if readers read it with their sense of feeling which will bring the readers to their imaginative world. The writer uses the poem To The Evening Star by William Blake to be analyzed.

2. Theory and Methodology 

2.1 Imagery

Laurence Perrine explains in Sounds and Sense (1969:54), “Imagery may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience”. There are seven kinds of imagery, they are: visual (something seen in the mind’s eye), olfactory (smell), tactile (touch), auditory (hearing), gustatory (taste), organic (internal sensation), and kinesthetic   (movement and tension).

From the seven kinds of imagery that are mentioned above, the writer will not discuss all the seven types of imagery. The writer will only discuss two of them; they are visual, kinesthetic imagery.

2.1.1 Visual Imagery

Visual imagery is a picture which is caught by the sense of the sight. The example of visual imagery can be seen from the poet Meeting at Night by Robert Browning below:

The gray sea and the long black land

And the yellow half-moon large and low       

2.1.2 Kinesthetic Imagery

Kinesthetic imagery is described by the form of movement or activities happened in the body. The imagery can be seen on the poet The Hand That Signed The Paper Felled A City by Dylan Thomas below:

             The hand that signed the paper felled a city;

             Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,

2.2 Figurative Language

2.2.1 Personification

Personification is a subtype of figurative language which give the attributes of a human being to an animal, an object, or an idea. Personification can be seen on the poet by James Joyce when the speaker cries out, “My love, my love, my love, why have you left me alone?”

2.2.2 Symbolism

In his book, Perrine explains that “a symbol may be roughly defined as something that means more than what it is”. Symbolism is an idea of a word itself; it could mean differently from one person to another. Symbolism can be seen on the poet Desert Places by Robert Frost below:

I have it in me so much nearer home

To scare myself with my own desert places.

3. Research Object

The object of research are sorted into a material object and formal object. Material object of this study is “To The Evening Star” by William Blake. Formal object of this research is a form of imagery and figurative language in the poem.

4. Biography and Poetry 

4.1 Biography of William Blake

William Blake was born on 28^th November 1757 in Soho in London, where he spent most of his life. William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. His father was a successful London hosier. Blake was first educated at home, chiefly by his mother. He remained very close to his mother and wrote much poetry about her. He combined both a lofty mysticism, imagination and vision with an uncompromising awareness of the harsh realities of life. As a young boy, Blake recalls having a most revealing vision of seeing angels in the trees. These mystical visions returned throughout his life, leaving a profound mark on his poetry and outlook. William Blake was also particularly sensitive to cruelty. But as well as writing poetry that revealed and exposed the harsh realities of life, William Blake never lost touch with his heavenly visions.  William Blake died on August 12 1827. He was buried in an unmarked grave in a public cemetery and Bunhill Fields. After his death his influence steadily grew through the Pre-Raphaelites and later noted poets such as T. S. Eliot and W. B. Yeats.

4.2 Poetic Parapharase

To The Evening Star by Wiliam Blake 

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 the lion glares thro’ the dun forest:
The fleeces of our flocks are cover’d with
Thy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence

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 the lion glares thro’ the dun forest. The fleeces of our flocks are cover’d with thy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence.

5. Discussion

5.1 Imagery

The writer infers that William Blake’s poem To The Evening Star contains several kinds of imagery.

5.1.1 Visual Imagery

The example of visual imagery can be seen from the poem To The   Evening Star by William Blake below:

 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

Light as we can see how the sun shines while 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 super 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 colors. When we read it, blue curtains of    the sky, our mid will fly away to the sky and see a blue bright sky and maybe without clouds so that it looks like a blue curtains of the sky. While the second, usually, we often see dew on the trees. We might assume that dew has no color, but then in this poem it says that the dew is  silver.

The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,

How we can imagine glimmering eyes? It may be when the eyes teary and light aglow the eyes, it will looks like glimmering eyes.

5.1.2 Kinesthetic Imagery

The example of kinesthetic 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 kinesthetic 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 kinesthetic imagery. By closing eyes, it needs movement of some muscles around the eyes.

And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon,

Wash is also kinesthetic imagery. Washing needs to move hands and finger.

5.2 Figurative Language

The writer infers that William Blake’s poem To The Evening Star contains several kinds of figurative language.

5.2.1 Personification

Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light

Sun rests is personification because the word rest unusually uses by things, rest usually uses 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.

                        The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,

Lake cannot speak, but this is personification. The glimmering of the lake shows the beauty in the silence.

5.2.2 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 the lion glares thro’ the dun forest:

The lion, with golden fur, is a symbol for the glorious morning. And the lion glares thro’ the dun forest means as much as the morning breaks through.

The other figurative language can we find on this poem is metaphor. In “To the Evening Star”, Blake maintains his Sketches theme of the daily cycle as metaphor to innocence and experience. Specifically here, the speaker calls upon the “fair-hair’d angel of the evening” to protect him (all of us) against the evils of the night, and more importantly, inspire “whilst the sun rests” all that is oppressed during daytime.

The star represents the transcendent moments of struggle between   oppositions. It is a “bright torch” while all else is dark, presenting a juxtaposition thus transcendent symbol. In reality, the star is most likely   the planet Venus, the Goddess of love and beauty, and helps build Blake’s motif of eroticism and desires that must remain hidden under the light of the omniscient day (notice the bed is “our” and not “mine” indicating it is a shared domain).

6. Conclusion

There are three major considerations to be taken from “The Evening Star.” One is the theme of pastoral simplicity. It is in the last two lines that the speaker appeals to God, recognizing his inferiority and potential impotence when it comes to protecting his flock from the fall of grace. The second is political entrapment. Again, the speaker knows that it is during night, when Venus’s “radiant crown” holds the power to put an end to all of daytime’s rules (change the color of the sky, put the flowers to sleep, calm the wind). Alas, the excitement and bliss of the unencumbered will “soon withdraw,” and just as in man’s law-abiding society, the force of opposition governs all of Blake’s inhibitions. Knowing an appeal to reason, religion, and God is out of the question; he turns to nighttime’s nature queen in hopes for approval.

References   

Cox, James M. 1968. William Blake: A Collection of Critical Essays. United States of America: Prentice Hall.

Bode, Carl. 1995. Highlight of American Literature. Washington, D.C. : English Teaching Division, Educational and Cultural Affairs, International Communications Agency. files.eric.ed.gov,  http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED417420.pdf

Fagan, Deidre. 2007. Critical Companion To William Blake: A Literary       Referenceto His Life And Work. Ebook. 1st ed. United States of America:      Facts On File. http://www.globalfreeshare.net/ebooks/84181-critical-            companion-to-robert-frost-a-literary-reference-to-his-life-and-work- repost.html.

Gayley, Charles M., Young, Clement C. 1904. The Principles AndProgress of English Poetry. New York: The Macmillan Company.

Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary. 2008. 4^th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Perrine, Laurence. 1969. 3^th ed. Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. United States of America: Harcourt College Pub