Ode to Evening (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Collins
- First Published: 1746
- Type of Work: Ode
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry, Ode
- Subjects: Nature, Gods or goddesses, Rivers or waterways, Mountains, Water, Nuns, Wind, Seasons, Night
The Poem
“Ode to Evening,” a single stanza of fifty-two lines, is addressed to a goddess figure representing the time of day in the title. This “nymph,” or “maid,” who personifies dusk, is “chaste,” “reserv’d,” and meek, in contrast to the “bright-hair’d sun,” a male figure who withdraws into his tent, making way for night. Thus “Eve,” or evening, is presented as the transition between light and darkness.
William Collins further stresses a female identity in his appellation “calm vot’ress.” With this feminine form of “votary” he...
[The entire page is 1561 words long]
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