William Blake

To the Evening Star by William Blake

‘To the Evening Star’ is written by one of the famous poets of the Romantic Age,
William Blake. Like his other poems, here Blake presents the conflict between
innocence and experience.

William Blake is popular for his poetry collection “Songs of Innocence and of
Experience.” In this prophetic work, the poet depicts the nature of creation as
well as the nature of the Almighty. The poems included in this volume reflect
Blake’s keen sense of poetic expression and extraordinary imagination. His
pictorial representation of the poem is also an added gift for the readers.
However, in this poem, ‘To the Evening Star’ the poet employs similar techniques
to throw light on the theme of innocence vs experience as he does in his “Songs
of Experience” poems.
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Structure
The poem consists of a total of 14 lines. The lines do not rhyme together. For this
reason, this poem is in free verse. However, the poet maintains the flow of the
poem by using internal rhyming. The movement of the poem does not halt for a
single moment for these internally rhyming lines. Apart from that, each line of the
poem contains 10 syllables. After dividing the syllables into five units or feet, one
can find that the stress falls on the second syllable of each foot. It means, in each
line, there are five iambs. So, the overall poem is composed in iambic
pentameter.

 
Literary Devices
Blake begins this poem, ‘To the Evening Star’ with a metaphor. Here, the poet
uses an allusion to the Roman goddess of beauty, fertility, and desire, Venus.
Along with that, in this metaphor, the poet compares the evening star to an angel
having fair hair. In the next line, the poet uses personification. Readers can find
the use of enjambment in the third and fourth lines. This device is present
throughout the poem. Thereafter, in “silvery dew”, the poet makes use
of metonymy. Moreover, the phrases, “west wind” and “speak silence”
contain alliteration. Lastly, the poem ends with a rhetorical exclamation.

Themes
Blake employs the themes of innocence vs experience, natural beauty, light,
darkness, passion, divinity, and purity in this poem. The most important theme of
this poem innocence vs experience. Here, the poet depicts the theme in the last
few lines of the poem. Thereafter, the setting displays the theme of natural
beauty, specifically the nocturnal one. The interplay of light and darkness, though
implicit in the poem, is another important theme of this work. Last but not least,
the divine grace and the inherent purity of nature also gets highlighted in this
poem.

Detailed Analysis
Lines 1–4
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!
The poem begins with a direct reference to the evening star as an angel. The
poetic persona of the poem thinks the star is a “fair-haired” angel who protects
the nocturnal beauty of nature. When the sun sets behind the mountain, the star
appears in the sky. According to the poet, the star lights the “bright torch of love”
at that time. So, the evening star is a symbol of love too. Moreover,
the speaker requests the angel to put on her “radiant crown” and smile upon their
evening bed. Here, the poet metaphorically compares the star to a monarch who
protects the world in the evening.

Lines 5–9
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,
Thereafter, the speaker tells the star to smile at their loved ones. It seems that
the angelic star becomes pleased to see her children in happiness. Moreover,
the poet says the evening star draws the “blue curtains of the sky” and scatters
the “silvery dew” on every flower. When the flowers shut their eyes in timely
sleep after sunset, the evening star blesses them with her “silvery dew”. Apart
from that, the speaker requests the star to let her west wind sleep on the lake. As
the west wind is a symbol of destruction, he requests the angel to calm the spirit
of the wind. Thereafter, he tells the evening star to speak silently with her
“glimmering eyes” to heighten the scenic beauty of the landscape.

Lines 10–14
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 the last section of the poem, ‘To the Evening Star’, the poet requests the angel
of the evening to wash the dusk with silver. From this section, the poem takes a
quick turn to the theme of experience. However, the star is going to disappear in
the night sky very soon. Then the wolf and the lion, symbols of experience, will
come out and flare through the dark forest. The poet knows her absence will lead
the dark forces to capture the landscape that, a few moments ago, was
drenching in purity and divine radiance. However, at last, he requests the angel
to protect the “fleeces of our flocks” with her “sacred dew.” It seems as long as
her influence is on her naive creatures, the dark forces can inflict no harm on
them