The Poems of William Blake

William Blake creates a positive impression on nature. Examine.

This poem is ' TO THE EVENING STAR '

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He addresses “Her” as a “fair-haired angel of the evening” who can light a lovely bright torch at night to remove the darkness and wears a glowing crown on her head and smiles upon the evening bed of humankind. “Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains light” implies that even the sturdy mountains that have endured all forms of hardship have to surrender to the inevitable night. It is a “bright torch” while all else is dark, presenting a juxtaposition to the transcendent symbol. The poet further proceeds to say that the Goddess Venus makes the fine morning and scatters the dew on every flower that shuts its silver eyes. These lines augment the beauty of the poem and make it surreal. But Venus cries “tears of dew” as she herself is aware of humankind’s fallen state on earth where sexual creativeness operates in a degrading manner and is symbolized by savage beasts. The poet expresses the idea that the stars bring peace and provide guidance to mankind during the normally forbidding night. The poet uses anastrophes to directly address the star. For instance, the poet urges the star to “smile upon our evening beds.” This annotation brings about a romantic and soothing essence to the poem and shows the poet’s belief that stars have the ability to turn a dark night into a calm and a dreamy one.

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To The Evening Star

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 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).

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TO THE EVENING STAR