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“It is a beauteous evening, calm and free”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_is_a_beauteous_evening,_calm_and_free

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free is a sonnet by William Wordsworth written at

Calais in August 1802. It was first published in the collection Poems in Two Volumes in
1807, appearing as the nineteenth poem in a section entitled 'Miscellaneous sonnets'.

The sonnet describes an evening walk on the beach with his nine-year old daughter Caroline
Vallon. Wordsworth reflects that if his young daughter is seemingly unaffected by the
majesty of the scene it is because, being young, she is naturally at one with nature.

sprknotes (Summary)

On a beautiful evening, the speaker thinks that the time is “quiet as a Nun,” and as the sun
sinks down on the horizon, “the gentleness of heaven broods o’er the sea.” The sound of the
ocean makes the speaker think that “the mighty Being is awake,” and, with his eternal
motion, raising an everlasting “sound like thunder.” The speaker then addresses the young
girl who walks with him by the sea, and tells her that though she appears untouched by the
“solemn thought” that he himself is gripped by, her nature is still divine. He says that she
worships in the “Temple’s inner shrine” merely by being, and that “God is with thee when we
know it not.”

This poem is one of the many excellent sonnets Wordsworth wrote in the early 1800s.
Sonnets are fourteen-line poetic inventions written in iambic pentameter. There are several
varieties of sonnets; “The world is too much with us” takes the form of a Petrarchan sonnet,
modeled after the work of Petrarch, an Italian poet of the early Renaissance. A Petrarchan
sonnet is divided into two parts, an octave (the first eight lines of the poem) and a sestet (the
final six lines). In this case, the octave follows a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA, and the
sestet follows a rhyme scheme of CDEDEC.

Commentary

This poem is one of the most personal and intimate in all of Wordsworth’s writing, and its
aura of heartfelt serenity is as genuine as anything in the Wordsworth canon. Shortly before
he married Mary Hutchinson, Wordsworth returned to France to see his former mistress
Annette Vallon, whom he would likely have married ten years earlier had the war between
France and England not separated them. He returned to visit Annette to make arrangements
for her and for their child, Caroline, who was now a ten-year-old girl. This poem is thought to
have originated from a real moment in Wordsworth’s life, when he walked on the beach with
the daughter he had not known for a decade.

Unlike many of the other sonnets of 1802, “It is a beauteous evening” is not charged with
either moral or political outrage; instead it is as tranquil as its theme. The main technique of
the sonnet is to combine imagery depicting the natural scene with explicitly religious imagery
—a technique also employed, although less directly, in “Tintern Abbey.” The octave of the
sonnet makes the first metaphorical comparisons, stating that the evening is a “holy time,”
and “quiet as a nun / Breathless with adoration.” As the sun sets, “the mighty Being” moves
over the waters, making a thunderous sound “everlastingly.” In the sestet, the speaker turns to
the young girl walking with him, and observes that unlike him, she is not touched by “solemn
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thought” (details also appearing in the Immortality Ode). But he declares that this fact does
not make her “less divine”—childhood is inherently at one with nature, worshipping in the
unconscious, inner temple of pure unity with the present moment and surroundings.

..............................................................................................

http://www.helium.com/items/1446151-poetry-analysis-of-it-is-a-beauteous-evening-by

In his sonnet "It is a beauteous evening, calm and free" William Wordsworth uses imagery
and poetic language in order to show the symmetry between nature and God, as he does in
many of his other works. In the sonnet he addresses his illegitimate daughter, Caroline. While
many see this is a thoughtful attempt to engage his daughter by drawing her in to his world
viewpoint, I see it as an attempt only to comfort and excuse himself of his absence in his
daughter's life.

While visiting France as a young man Wordsworth met Annette Vallon, and the two began an
affair. She became pregnant and delivered Anne-Caroline in December 1793. Later that same
month, Wordsworth left France and returned to England. He returned to France only once, in
1802, to visit Annette and Caroline before marrying Mary Hutchinson. It is speculated that "It
is a beauteous evening" was written regarding this brief visit. He lived and remained in
England until his death in 1850 (Watson 2-4). Therefore Wordsworth was almost completely
absent from his daughter Caroline's life.
"Beauteous Evening" begins with Wordsworth seeming to paint a very somber calm mood.
He writes:

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,

The holy time is quiet as a Nun

Breathless with adoration; the broad sun

Is sinking down in its tranquillity;

The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea:

Here the reader gets a picture of a tranquil sunset setting into a gentle sea. However in the
following lines, he implies that things are not as calm and quiet as they first appear. "Listen!
The Mighty Being is awake,/And doth with his eternal motion make/A sound like thunder -
everlastingly." Wordsworth is making a statement that there is much more going on under the
calm exterior. "The Mighty Being" refers to the sea or may even refer more specifically to the
god Poseidon. Waves are crashing against the storm, making "a sound like thunder."
Wordsworth may have been using this imagery to show the parallel between what is going on
in nature and what is going on in the interaction with his daughter. Things could have
appeared calm and collected on the outside, while actually very tumultuous just under the
surface. Don Bailostosky supports this idea in Wordsworth, dialogics, and the practice of
criticism, "The speaker, carried away with his sense of the evening, has invited the child to
enter into something unsuited to her, and , like the father in 'Anecdote for Fathers,' he covers
his embarrassment at the awkward discovery of his mistaken manner of address with
affectionate declarations and compensatory imaginings (Bialostosky 88)".
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The reader sees evidence of this awkward interaction further when Wordsworth begins
addressing Caroline directly after the turn saying, "Dear Child! Dear Girl! That walkest with
me here,/If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,/Thy nature is not therefore less
divine." The reader is able to see here that his attempt to draw his daughter into his "Nature is
Divine" viewpoint has failed. She simply is not as engaged in what is going on as he is,
despite his implorations.

To comfort himself in this awkwardness and justify his absence in his daughters life,
Wordsworth uses the poem as a means to convince himself and his daughter that though he is
not present, Caroline has a father in God. This patriarchal and spiritual imagery is found
throughout the sonnet beginning with the references to evening as "holy time quiet as a Nun"
at adoration. As previously mentioned "Mighty Being" may be reference to the god Poseidon,
who was also considered the father of the sea. The sonnet concludes with "Thou liest in
Abraham's bosom all the year;/And worship'st at the Temple's inner shrine,/God being with
thee when we know it not." Abraham was considered by the Old Testament Hebrews to be
the father of all peoples, so Wordsworth may be making a statement that Caroline has a father
in Abraham. There is also the possibility that it may be something even more sinister.
"Abraham's bosom" is a reference to what the ancient Jews believed to be the afterlife.
Therefore, Wordsworth may actually be figuratively "killing" his daughter (Bialostosky 116).
Regardless it is evident that he has detached himself from Caroline, believing God to be the
only father she needs.

Like Wordsworth imagery of the sea, "It is a beauteous evening, calm and free" appears to be
a beautiful sonnet about the divinity of nature. However, when the reader takes a deeper look
at the imagery presented and Wordsworth's life it becomes a dark excuse offered by an
uncaring father wishing for freedom from responsibility.

..........................................................................................................

http://letstalkaboutlit.wordpress.com/tag/william-wordsworth/

This is a very personal sonnet from Wordsworth, who was writing mostly about
politics at the time. The story goes that this poem was inspired by an actual walk
along the beach with his nine year old daughter, Caroline, who he was just meeting
for the first time. He and Caroline’s mother were engaged, but the French
Revolution caused them to be separated. Wordsworth ended up marrying someone
else.

So, it is no surprise that he is thinking of all things holy to him when he first meets
her, because meeting your own child, no matter how old she might be, is a pretty
holy experience. For Wordsworth, and the rest of the Romantics, divinity could be
readily found in nature and in children, and that is just what we see here.

In the octave, the first eight lines, Wordsworth compares the evening to a nun who
is breathless or awe-struck in worship. In a kind of paradox, it is both an awesome
and tranquil time. It is a time of ultimate peace and serenity, mixed with wonder
and admiration. It’s a time when you feel connected to yourself, your
surroundings, and the beyond.
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The infinite waves that crash to shore remind him of “the mighty Being”, and His
infinite nature.

Moving on to the sestet, or last six lines of the sonnet, his attentions turn to the
“dear Girl” who walks with him. She clearly doesn’t feel the same solemnity that
he does in this moment.

(How many of us who struggle to get our children to take interest in such things
can relate to this?!)

But, he believes that his daughter is not at all oblivious to the holiness of the
moment. On the contrary, he believes children are much closer to God in their
day-to-day lives, that they are “in Abraham’s bosom all the year” and therefore are
not as moved by what to speaker believes are striking examples of His existence.

To them, the world is always full of amazement.

......................................................................

http://literature08.wikispaces.com/It+is+a+beauteous+Evening,+calm+and+free

This poem is one of the many sonnets Wordsworth wrote in the early 1800s.
Sonnets are fourteen-line poetic inventions written in iambic pentameter, This is a Petrarchan
sonnet. A Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two parts, an octave (the first eight lines of the
poem) and a sestet (the final six lines). In this case, the octave follows a rhyme scheme of
ABBAABBA, and the sestet follows a rhyme scheme of CDEDEC.
This poem is one of the most personal of all of Wordsworth's writing, Shortly before
Wordsworth married Mary Hutchinson, Wordsworth returned to France to see his former
mistress Annette Vallon, whom he would likely have married ten years earlier had the war
between France and England not separated them. He returned to visit Annette to make
arrangements for her and for their child, Caroline, who was now a ten-year-old girl. This
poem is thought to have originated from a real moment in Wordsworth's life, when he walked
on the beach with the daughter (Caroline) he had not known for a decade. The main idea of
“It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free” is how Wordsworth views nature and childhood
as essentially divine.

So here are all my direct notes on the poem:

It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free; -Fairly straightforward, worsdworth is setting the
scene as a beautiful evening.

The holy time is quiet as a Nun - Sunset is a sacred or holy time in many of Wordsworth’s
poems. Wordsworth compares the time of day to a holy nun adoring God. And how time
seems to stand still in this calmness. The image of a 'nun' indicates how sacred the eveing is.

Breathless with adoration; the broad sun -This suggests that nature possesses underlying
energy and power. And also helps create the image of the perfect sunset
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Is sinking down in its tranquillity; -Wordsworth is attempting to create the picture in the
mind of the reader of the "perfect sunset", and emphasising the calmness

The gentleness of heaven broods on the Sea: -Wordsworth shows the beauty of the evening
by suggesting that heaven has nested [(broods) on the sea. He may mean that heaven is
hovering over the sea at this time, thinking. Then Wordsworth senses the energy of the sea,
maybe thinking that the calm sea has awoken for the night. nesting is about keeping eggs
warm could it mean that all though the sun is going down it still provides the perfect warmth?

Listen! the mighty Being is awake -may be interpreted as: God, nature, or God manifested
throughout nature, This "mighty being" may be interpreted as: God, nature, or God
manifested throughout nature, Wordsworth's ideas in this poem rotating around divinity
would back up this concept as Divinity is most definitely evident in God.

And doth with his eternal motion make - 'Eternal motion' means it is constantly changing
and evolving

A sound like thunder−everlastingly. -Wordsworth thinks that the motion of the tides makes
a sound like thunder on the shore. Thunder is also a symbol of strength and power, so here
wordsworth is expressing the eternal might of nature.

Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, -This is wordsworths first reference to
the girl that walks with him, his daughter Caroline. The use of the word 'dear' indicates his
affection and care for her

If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,-Here wordsworth tells that though she
appears untouched by the "solemn thought" that he himself is gripped by, her nature is still
divine. He may have ‘solemn thoughts’ about the sacredness of nature, but she is intimately
connected to nature. And so she is closer to nature than him.

Thy nature is not therefore less divine: Wordsworth is showing how a childs ignorance is
their innocence.

Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year; -this line portrays the trust and innocence of
Caroline. Or suggesting that her soul is blessed by God.

And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine, -The ‘Temple’ here represents stands for
Caroline’s (Wordsworhts daughter) closeness to nature. She is in the ‘inner shrine’ of the
temple. Usually only special people, the high priests, could enter the inner shrine of a Jewish
temple.

God being with thee when we know it not. -Wordsworth is stating how God seems to be
with Caroline in her childish innocence yet not with him or adults. The line above this he
suggests how she is intimately connected to nature, because she is 'natural' she is connected
to God also .
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Themes
Sunset
Wordsworth praises the calmness of evening. He also likes the fact that it is free, a time of
leisure. He compares sunset to worship. The image of the nun shows how sacred evening is.
It is like a Temple, as he suggests later in the poem. It is a time when heaven touches the
earth.
A father-daughter Relationship
The poem shows Wordsworth’s love for his daughter, Caroline. He repeats the word ‘dear’
and praises her natural quality: ‘Thy nature is not therefore less divine’. He suggests that in
her innocent and natural state she is close to God.
The Beauty of Nature Reveals God
Wordsworth believes the sunset is so beautiful because heaven is present in the sky at this
time. The force behind the sea is a ‘mighty Being’, or God. Also that gazing at a sunset is the
same as being present in the Temple to adore God.
Children are connected to Nature
Wordsworth states his child is no less divine than the sunset. She is part of nature and is in
the ‘inner shrine’, maybe without knowing it.

Features of the Poem

-Wordsworth compares nature to Christian images: a ‘nun’, ‘heaven’

-When Wordsworth wrote this poem, he used language that was like everyday language.
Now, two hundred years later, the words and especially the word order seem old fashioned:
‘Thou’, ‘beauteous’, ‘o’er’, ‘liest’, 'walkest', 'thee'. These words are from the bible too. This
emphasises the religious aspect of nature.
-The Similies in the poem are ‘The holy time is quiet as a Nun’ and ‘a sound like thunder’.
-The lone metaphor in the poem is: ‘Thou liest in Abraham’s bosom.’ Is 'the gentleness of
heaven broods on the sea' a metaphore?.

Poem Summary

On a beautiful evening, the speaker thinks that the time is "quiet as a Nun," and as the sun
sinks down on the horizon, "the gentleness of heaven broods o'er the sea." The sound of the
ocean makes the speaker think that "the mighty Being is awake," and, with his eternal
motion, raising an everlasting "sound like thunder." The speaker then addresses the young
girl who walks with him by the sea, and tells her that though she appears untouched by the
"solemn thought" that he himself is gripped by, her nature is still divine. He says that she
worships in the "Temple's inner shrine" merely by being, and that "God is with thee when we
know it not."

This poem is one of the many excellent sonnets Wordsworth wrote in the early 1800s.
Sonnets are fourteen-line poetic inventions written in iambic pentameter. There are several
varieties of sonnets; "The world is too much with us" takes the form of a Petrarchan sonnet,
modeled after the work of Petrarch, an Italian poet of the early Renaissance. A Petrarchan
sonnet is divided into two parts, an octave (the first eight lines of the poem) and a sestet (the
final six lines). In this case, the octave follows a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA, and the
sestet follows a rhyme scheme of CDEDEC.
 7

Commentary

This poem is one of the most personal and intimate in all of Wordsworth's writing, and its
aura of heartfelt serenity is as genuine as anything in the Wordsworth canon. Shortly before
he married Mary Hutchinson, Wordsworth returned to France to see his former mistress
Annette Vallon, whom he would likely have married ten years earlier had the war between
France and England not separated them. He returned to visit Annette to make arrangements
for her and for their child, Caroline, who was now a ten-year-old girl. This poem is thought to
have originated from a real moment in Wordsworth's life, when he walked on the beach with
the daughter he had not known for a decade.
Unlike many of the other sonnets of 1802, "It is a beauteous evening" is not charged with
either moral or political outrage; instead it is as tranquil as its theme. The main technique of
the sonnet is to combine imagery depicting the natural scene with explicitly religious
imagery--a technique also employed, although less directly, in "Tintern Abbey." The octave
of the sonnet makes the first metaphorical comparisons, stating that the evening is a "holy
time," and "quiet as a nun / Breathless with adoration." As the sun sets, "the mighty Being"
moves over the waters, making a thunderous sound "everlastingly." In the sestet, the speaker
turns to the young girl walking with him, and observes that unlike him, she is not touched by
"solemn thought" (details also appearing in the Immortality Ode). But he declares that this
fact does not make her "less divine"--childhood is inherently at one with nature, worshipping
in the unconscious, inner temple of pure unity with the present moment and surroundings.

Here you go boys the slideshow is done by moi a picture for every sentence. Enjoy the bosom
ones. yeeeeeeeeee

Chen: backround notes and Qs:

‘It is a beauteous evening, calm and free’

This beautiful, artistic sonnet was written to Wordsworth’s daughter, Caroline Vallon, who
was nine years old when he visited her in 1802. It is one of ten sonnets written during his visit
to Calais.
The sonnet is a highly structured form of poetry, imposing a discipline on the poet to regulate
the outpouring of emotion into its mould. The sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines. In its
traditional form, these are divided into eight lines (the octave) and six lines (the sestet), with a
pause between which is called the volta. The division between the octave and the sestet might
not appear in a space between the two sections (there is no space between them in this poem)
but the two are distinguished by a different rhyming pattern. There is also, traditionally, a
change in the direction of thought after the volta. Often the octave will be a description while
the sestet will be a reflection on that description.
The octave usually consists of two quatrains (a quatrain is four lines) which are linked
together by their rhyming pattern. This is usually abba abba in the Italian form of the sonnet,
used also by many English poets. However, an alternative English form is abba cddc
The sestet, in the Italian form, usually took a rhyming pattern such as cdecde, or cdedce, or
rhyming couplets. In the English form, it often took the form of a third quatrain and a
rhyming couplet.
The sonnet form was used by Milton, Shakespeare and Donne but after their time had been
less popular with English poets until the Romantic period, when it was revived by
Wordsworth and the other Romantic poets. Wordsworth himself is often considered the best
sonnet writer amongst the Romantics. The Romantic poets, though they often rejected the
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immediate past, tended to look back farther into the past for inspiration, both in terms of
content and form. However, consistent with their love of freedom and rejection of the
strictures of the past, they often took liberties with the form, as we can see in this sonnet.
The first two quatrains are linked in their rhyming patterns: abba acca. They describe the
beauty of the evening as the sun sinks into the sea. In the first quatrain this beauty is
described as spiritual: the silence of the moment captured in the simile comparing it to “a
Nun/Breathless with adoration”. The feeling of calmness and silence is conveyed through the
sound of the quatrain: long vowel sounds, assonance, variation in the metre, enjambment of
the second and third lines and the caesura in the third line force the reader to read it slowly.
In the second quatrain, the sound of the sea is juxtaposed to the silence spoken of in the first
quatrain. Once again a spiritual element is introduced as the “eternal motion” of the sea, with
its everlasting “sound like thunder” is said to be the “mighty Being”.
The sestet is written as an apostrophe to his daughter, who appears “untouched by solemn
thought” at the sight of so much beauty. He assures her that her nature is “not therefore less
divine”. Children, in Wordsworth’s view are always in touch with nature, where adults have
only occasional exquisite moments of understanding it. “Thou liest in Abraham’s bosom all
the year”, he tells her.
Note: This is a biblical allusion: Abraham’s bosom is a term used in the Bible as a metaphor
for closeness to God, for instance in the story of Lazarus, Luke 16: 19-31.
She, as a child, can worship “at the Temple’s inner shrine”, the inner shrine of a temple being
where only the most holy or initiated may go, and the temple here being a metaphor for
nature which Wordsworth identifies with God.

Activity:

In this exercise, you will revise some important poetic terms and use them to explain the way
they shape meaning in this poem.

Explain the ways in which these, and the structure of the sonnet shape meaning in the poem.

Discuss how this poem is typical of a romantic poem with reference to typical Romantic
themes.

model essay:

Divinity in “It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free” During the late 17th and early 18th
centuries the style of poetry changed drastically. Poets shifted their focus away from the
audience and concentrated on the internal self. This created the expressive, lyric poetry we
now recognize as typical of Romanticism. William Wordsworth is one of the most famous of
the Romantics, as well as author of “It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free.” Written in
1807 after a trip to France to visit his daughter, “It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”
focuses on Wordsworth’s view of nature and childhood as essentially divine. Written as a
Petrarchan sonnet, “It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free” can be divided into two parts,
an octet and a sestet. The octet introduces the reader to Wordsworth’s pantheistic view of
nature. His reference to “the mighty Being” (6) may be interpreted as: God, nature, or God
manifested throughout nature, which exemplifies pantheism. Divinity is evident in God, and
in nature through three main qualities: power, eternity and perfection. In “It Is a Beauteous
Evening, Calm and Free”, nature is described as being “breathless with adoration.” (3) This
suggests that nature possesses underlying energy and power. Further along in the poem, the
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Being makes “a sound like thunder” (8), another symbol of strength and power. One of the
most important features of a divine being is eternal existence. Wordsworth describes nature
as being in “eternal motion” (7); it is constantly changing and evolving. A third quality
essential to divinity is absolute perfection. One scene in the poem depicts the sun sinking
from the heavens down into the sea. Wordsworth creates an image of such harmony and
perfection; it is hard to question the divine essence of nature. In the sestet, Wordsworth
switches the focus from the divinity of nature to the divinity of childhood. Although
Wordsworth is addressing his daughter specifically, his view of her as divine can be applied
to all children. While childhood is regarded as a time of ignorance, where serious thoughts
are seldom entertained, the Romantics also view childhood as a time of innocence.
Wordsworth addresses both these views in “It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”. By
declaring that, eventhough his daughter is “untouched by solemn thought, [she] is not
therefore less divine”(10-11), Wordsworth is saying that a child’s ignorance is his or her
innocence. As the poem continues, the child is portrayed as “[lying] in Abraham’s bosom all
the year” (12), suggesting that her soul is blessed by God. Wordsworth’s use of the image of
the Temple’s inner shrine is perfect in illustrating a child’s innocence and divinity. Normally
reserved for the highest priest of the Israelites to visit but once a year, a mere child is
portrayed as worshipping there, revealing her closeness to God. In fact, this union is so
special that Wordsworth admits that God is with the child even when he knows it not. Upon
close examination of “It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”, it is apparent that
Wordsworth views nature and childhood as two of the most divine states known to man.
What is not so obvious, are his, as well as the rest of the Romantics, reasons for this belief.
During the Romantic era, the French and Industrial Revolutions were causing great changes
in the world. Several external supports, such as government and religion, were breaking
down. Perhaps it is this turmoil that forced the Romantics to seek solace and inspiration in
the stability of nature. However, despite discovering the sanctity of nature, the Romantics
realized they were still being corrupted by the world around them. Purity could only be truly
maintained in childhood, because of a child’s ignorance towards the problems of the world. It
is for this reason, poets such as Wordsworth, revered childhood as divine. Word Count: 642

To "be in Abraham's bosom" thus meant to enjoy happiness and rest (Matthew 8:11; Luke
16:23) at the banquet in Paradise. Abraham's bosom, also called the Limbo of the Fathers in
this context, is said to be the waiting place for those who "lived by faith" in Yahweh, but died
before the coming of Jesus; sometime during the three days between the Crucifixion of Jesus
and his resurrection, Jesus descended into the realm of the dead and retrieved those in
Abraham's bosom.
Abraham's Bosom is a figurative phrase for the presence of God, paradise[1]. It is believed by
some Christians to be a former comfortable section of "Hades", that neighbored Hell or
Gehenna (the place of torment) prior to the resurrection of Jesus. Others believe the Lucian
parable to be mythical and not based on the realities of the time of Jesus' words.