Night -
Synopsis and commentary
Synopsis of Night
In stanza one, the
speaker looks at the setting sun and sees the evening star. Like the birds now
quiet in their nest, s/he, too, must go to bed. S/he sees the moon as shining
indulgently on the earth at sleep.
In stanza two, s/he says farewell to the daytime scene of green
fields and groves where sheep have grazed. Now, where the lambs grazed angels
tread, blessing everything that is growing and sleeping.
Stanzas three and four consider the angels'
activities. They check nests; they check on all the animals, keeping them from
harm and give sleep to any in distress, keeping watch by their bed. They weep
when they find wolves and tigers howling for prey and try to drive away their
hunger. If these beasts nevertheless catch their prey, the angels take the dead
animals to a new life (heaven).
Stanzas five and six express the nature of this new life (‘new
worlds'). It is a place of universal peace in which ‘the lion will lie down
with the lamb'. The lion asserts that the gentle humility and wholesome purity
of Christ (the unnamed ‘him who bore thy name'
i.e. the Lamb of God) has
driven out anger and sickness from this new place of endless day. The lion is
now no longer the predator but the guard / shepherd. He can lie down beside the
lamb and sleep, or think about Jesus' sufferings, full of tenderness towards
the bleating, gentle lamb. Now the lion isimmortal (‘wash'd in life's river), he will be
a glorious protector of the flock.
The poem draws on pastoral imagery, looking at harmony between
nature and human beings. The contrasts of day, followed by night, followed by
eternal day, stress only the positive aspects of each (which could be seen as
demonstrating the inadequacy of innocence). Blake also employs a wealth of
biblical allusion.
Commentary
A positive vision?
In the light of Blake's ideas drawn from Jacob Boehme (see Religious / philosophical background >
Philosophical influences on Blake >
Blake and Jacob Boehme), this poem can be read as showing the inadequacy of
innocence when it is the only vision available to the human being. The
perspective of the poem's speaker allows little engagement with the experience
of ‘woe':
- The evocation of
the passing day is idyllic, stressing greenness and peacefulness
- All is growth –
‘green fields and happy groves'
- Nothing is at
risk – flocks ‘took delight', ‘lambs nibbled'
- The picture of
angels visiting, protecting and soothing troubled animals is seductive
- It is the world
of a lullaby.
Night actually neutralises the negatives
associated with the image of night. After all, night-time is:
- The time of
human terrors and fears
- When individuals
are most vulnerable to attack
- When most
predators are at work – the only glancing reference to death is that the
predators ‘rush dreadful'.
- Frequently an
image of death and oblivion.
A one sided picture
The reality of predation and death is present, and the angels cannot avert
it. However, it is presented simply as a precursor to entering a more blissful
existence, in which all antagonism is removed. The only values are those of
meekness and tenderness. This vision of a world to come, or a world ‘beyond',
offers comfort but might also signal an avoidance of the reality of devouring
forces within human life (necessary contraries according to Blake). It also
presents a vision of life devoid of energy and force:
- The angels
become static in the face of danger, tears the only protection they can
offer
- Lambs become
merely ‘mild spirit[s]'
- The lion lies
down with the lamb as a tamed beast, grazing alongside the lamb. The
distinctive qualities he brings to creation are channeled merely into
guard duties in this ideal, pastoral world.
No comments:
Post a Comment