ANALYSIS OF POEM

By Atikah Rahmawati

“TO THE EVENING STAR”

AbstractIn this paper, the writer try to analyze a poem, entitled “To the Eveningn Star” written by William Blake. The purpose of this writing is to appreciate and to analyze the using of personification, symbolism, and kinestetic 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

IntroductionAccording to Charles Mills Gayley and Clement C. Young in 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.”. 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.

TheoryImageryThere 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 only discuss two of them; they are visual, kinesthetic imagery. - Visual ImageryVisual imagery is a picture which is caught by the sense of the sight.   - Kinesthetic ImageryKinesthetic imagery is described by the form of movement or activities happened in the body.Figurative Language - Personification Personification is a subtype of figurative language which give the attributes of a human being to an animal, an object, or an idea - SymbolismIn 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.

Biography and PoetryWilliam Blake was born on 28th November 1757 in Soho in London, where he spent most of his life. Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. 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.

To The Evening Star Thou fair-hair’d angel of the evening, Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, lightThy bright torch of love; thy radiant crownPut on, and smile upon our evening bed!Smile on our loves, and while thou drawest theBlue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dewOn every flower that shuts its sweet eyesIn timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep onThe 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 withThy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence

ParaphraseThou 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.

DiscussionVisual Imagery

Thou fair-hair’d angel of the evening,Fair-hair’d  is a visual imagery because 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, lightLight as we can see how the sun shines while rests on the mountain.

Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crownWhen 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 dewWhen we read blue curtains of the sky, our mind will fly away to the sky and see a blue bright sky without clouds so that it looks like a blue curtains of the sky. While 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

Kinesthetic ImageryPut 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 eyesShut 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.

PersonificationNow, 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.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).

ConclusionThere 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.