To the Evening Star

To the evening star written by William Blake is an ode to Venus. It is written on free verse form and in second person narrative form. Venus is considered as the goddess of love , fertility and beauty. Through this poem, poet asks Venus to protect us from evilness of night.

" Thou fair hair'd angel in the morning. "

Poet addresses Venus as the fair hired angel. He praises her beauty, comparing her to a kind angel. As other human , before asking the help of goddess, poet praises the divine qualities of the queen star Venus.

Now whilst the sun rests on the mountains poet describes the movements of the sun at the end of a restless hard day. It implies the hard dat 's work of the human. At the end of the hard labored day the evening star approaches to the sky to console people with its charming beauty and glamorousness. Evening star comes to the sky , announcing the soon arrival of the night. For the people who have mixed their sweat and blood with toil and physical hardships, night is the only consoling break. Poet requests the star to scatter the light of her, torch of love of her, and wear her radiant crown to give its glimmer to the world.

"and whist thou drawest the- Blue curtains of the sky,

scatter thy silver dew

On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes - In timely sleep"

Poet creates the beautiful visual imagery of the sky after the sunset. He defines Venus as a person who decorate he sky with blue colour. With the sunset, withering of the flowers take place. But poet requests Venus to scatter dew on the flowers may be to keep them alive. However , when night comes , every flower should shut its sweet eyes t get ready for a timely sleep till next morning. Blake describes the subtle incident take place in nature and its components through the poem.

"Let thy west wind sleep on

The lake ; speaks silence with thy glimmering eye

And wash the dusk with silver"

Poet requests the evening star to make west wind asleep to make the environment silent. it may be due to the noisy ripples created on the lake with the west wind. These images create a scene a of a glamorously enchanting environment in the night. When the lake is silent a vivid reflection of the evening star can be seen in water. Poet describes the view as glimmering eyes. Poet asks the evening star to make the environment mildly dark colour and point it with he glimmering silver streaks of Venus. Poet requests the evening star to make many changes in the environment. believing tat the star possess and actual natural power.

" Soon full soon

Dost thou withdraw, then the wolf rages wide

And the lion glare through the dun forest"

No one can last forever in the world. Even he evening star has to disappear from the sky when night comes. Poet's prayer is o get the protection and blessing of Venus , within the short period which she stands in the sky. here " wolf rages" suggests the falling of night and " lion glaring " suggests the beginning of the dawn. Through describing the transitory nature of the environment, poet implies that , when holiness depart , presence of evilness naturally occur in the world. Poet says that , he couldn't catch a glamourous beauty in the morning than in night.

"The fleeces of our flocks are covered

with thy sacred dew

protect with them with thine influence"

Flocks symbolizes innocence and purity. Evening star cannot stay eternally in the sky. But the poet prays for her eternal blessing for them to withdraw from evilness. Hereby poet asks to the evening star to protect their innocence from worldly evilness. Poet has given a holiness to the tar throughout the poem and the " sacred dew " highlights it in the last line. The " Evening star " have been highly admired throughout the poem.

Literary techniques

• Personification - thou / thy

• Metaphor - wolf rages / lion glare / dun forest / sacred dew

• Kinesthetic Imagery - wolf rages wide/ lion glares

• Symbolism - wolf/ lion / flock

• Consonance - fleeces of flocks

• Oxymoron - speak silence

• Run on lines