William Collins' Ode To Evening
To read the original poem click here
Romantic Literature attracts you a lot during the early years of your encounter with the field of study. Similar kind of a thing happened with me. I was fascinated by the elements of simplicity and beauty of language which romanticism idealized for literary expression. So much profound is the effect of romanticism on my mind, that my early steps in creative writing reflected its characteristics. In fact, it is common for a beginner in creative writing to write poems or stories on time of the day, natural phenomena and natural cycles, with a wide range of ethos and pathos. Keeping this in my mind, here's my impression on the poem of William Collins' Ode To Evening.
Collins' can't be considered a 'pure' Romantic, if I can put it that way. He wrote during the transition period from Neo-Classical to Romantic in literary history. Thus, his work reflects Classical allusions and references on one side and complex imagery as well as focus on external nature on the other. Published in 1746, the ode describes evening, who is personified as Eve, who changes her hues with seasons. Considering the fact that the work is a bit classical in nature, the language is full of allegories and allusions. For instance references to Greek mythological figures like Fragrant Hours, etc. Thus, the language becomes difficult to grasp, especially for a foreign reader; even if one has is a student of literature.
Coming to my observation and understanding of the ode; since this was introduced to me during the first year of college. At that time, it was a matter of weeks before I would prepare an answer based on this work while preparing for exams. So, I wasn't concerned with anything except for the fact that I could easily remember it.
Things changed after I learnt about something called Eco-feminism. And this ode came to my mind while learning that term. During one of the classroom discussions on Eco-feminism, we discussed how it was a common practice among poets and writers to personify certain aspects of nature as female and surprisingly all of them could be written with a sort of patronizing tone on the part of the poet or writer.
(I'll update this post soon)
Romantic Literature attracts you a lot during the early years of your encounter with the field of study. Similar kind of a thing happened with me. I was fascinated by the elements of simplicity and beauty of language which romanticism idealized for literary expression. So much profound is the effect of romanticism on my mind, that my early steps in creative writing reflected its characteristics. In fact, it is common for a beginner in creative writing to write poems or stories on time of the day, natural phenomena and natural cycles, with a wide range of ethos and pathos. Keeping this in my mind, here's my impression on the poem of William Collins' Ode To Evening.
Collins' can't be considered a 'pure' Romantic, if I can put it that way. He wrote during the transition period from Neo-Classical to Romantic in literary history. Thus, his work reflects Classical allusions and references on one side and complex imagery as well as focus on external nature on the other. Published in 1746, the ode describes evening, who is personified as Eve, who changes her hues with seasons. Considering the fact that the work is a bit classical in nature, the language is full of allegories and allusions. For instance references to Greek mythological figures like Fragrant Hours, etc. Thus, the language becomes difficult to grasp, especially for a foreign reader; even if one has is a student of literature.
Coming to my observation and understanding of the ode; since this was introduced to me during the first year of college. At that time, it was a matter of weeks before I would prepare an answer based on this work while preparing for exams. So, I wasn't concerned with anything except for the fact that I could easily remember it.
Things changed after I learnt about something called Eco-feminism. And this ode came to my mind while learning that term. During one of the classroom discussions on Eco-feminism, we discussed how it was a common practice among poets and writers to personify certain aspects of nature as female and surprisingly all of them could be written with a sort of patronizing tone on the part of the poet or writer.
(I'll update this post soon)
Comments
Post a Comment