4.1. Transitional Period + Ode to Evening

This Presentation was by Mona and Afrah. Transitional Period + Ode to Evening

1. POETRY Transitional period “Ode to Evening” by William Collins presenting by: Afrah Alzahrani Mona AL- Ghamdi

2. What is "transitional period"? It is period between (1745-1785) between Neoclassical and Romantic periods. Some literary historians call this period the "age of sensibility". What are the main aspects of the "transitional period"? 1-The poetry involve a move inward - writers are more introspective, thinking of their own thoughts and feelings as possible subject matter for their work. 2-Is contrast to Pope who writes about others, and adds the further detachment of satire. 3-The many writers become fascinated by the morbid, the macabre, and the Gothic: death, suicide, melancholia, and graves become popular motifs. 4-At the same time, there is a great interest in natural landscape ,in gardens, parks and rural life .

3. William Collins 1721 – 1759

4. William Collins is considered as one of the most skilled 18th-century lyric poets . He is one of the poets who is marking a transitional period in English literature. -This is due to Collins ’ s style which is formally Neoclassical but represents the themes of the Romantic period. -His treatment of individual experience and descriptions of emotion influenced his peers as well as the next generation of writers. -His lyrical odes marks a turn away from the Augustan poetry of Alexander Pope's generation with its focus on reason and objective views , towards the Romantic era which would soon follow with its emphasis on emotional and subjective view.

5. “Ode to Evening” By William Collins

6. -Collins was born in England, where his father served as mayor. -He enrolled in Winchester College at age 11 and began publishing poems. -After finishing study in Oxford, Collins moved to London to write. - Collins’s poems like Odes are among his most celebrated works and include “ Ode to Evening ” and “Ode to Fear.” - Collins’s mental health began to fail during the final decade of his life, and his writing suffered as a result.

7. The Poem If aught of oaten stop, or past'ral song, May hope, chaste Eve, to soothe thy modest ear,     Like thy own solemn springs,     Thy springs and dying gales, O nymph reserved, while now the bright-haired sun Sits in yon western tent, whose cloudy skirts,     With brede ethereal wove,     O'erhang his wavy bed; Now air is hushed, save where the weak- ey'd bat With short shrill shriek flits by on leathern wing,     Or where the beetle winds     His small but sullen horn As oft he rises 'midst the twilight path Against the pilgrim, borne in heedless hum:     Now teach me, maid composed,     To breathe some softened strain, Whose numbers stealing through thy dark'ning vale May not unseemly with its stillness suit,     As musing slow, I hail     Thy genial loved return.

8. For when thy folding star arising shows His paly circlet, at his warning lamp     The fragrant Hours, and elves     Who slept in flowers the day, And many a nymph who wreathes her brows with sedge And sheds the fresh'ning dew, and lovelier still,     The pensive pleasures sweet     Prepare thy shad'wy car. Then lead, calm votress , where some sheety lake Cheers the lone heath, or some time-hallowed pile     Or upland fallows grey     Reflect its last cool gleam. But when chill blust'ring winds, or driving rain, Forbid my willing feet, be mine the hut     That from the mountain's side     Views wilds, and swelling floods, And hamlets brown, and dim-discovered spires, And hears their simple bell, and marks o'er all     Thy dewy fingers draw     The gradual dusky veil.

9. While Spring shall pour his showers, as oft he wont, And bathe thy breathing tresses, meekest Eve;     While Summer loves to sport     Beneath thy ling'ring light; While sallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves; Or Winter, yelling through the troublous air,     Affrights thy shrinking train     And rudely rends thy robes; So long, sure-found beneath the sylvan shed, Shall Fancy, Friendship, Science, rose- lipp'd Health,     Thy gentlest influence own,     And hymn thy fav'rite name!

10. EXPLAINATION “ Ode to Evening,” is one among the most enduring poems of William Collins. It is a beautiful poem of fifty-two lines, addressed to a goddess figure representing evening. 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 evening is presented as the transition between light and darkness. In "Ode to Evening" the poet is seen at his best. It is a masterpiece creation of Collins. Evening has been personified. It is not just a time of dusk, it is the spirit of evening. She is described as reserved by nature. She is peaceful Nymph and simple. In her tent sunsets and resets. She has been imagined as a maid composed. The poet would like to sing his songs to soothe her modest ear.

11. The poem begins with an invocation to the spirit of evening to teach the poet to sing a soft strain to it. She is not just a part of dead nature. Sometime she appears as pensive Eve. She likes to hear the poet's songs. Her hours are fragrant. Fairies who sleep in the buds during daytime, come out in the evening and make the atmosphere fragrant.   His song should be as soft as the murmur of the streams or the dying winds. The poet says that barring the cry of the bat and the beetle , there is complete calm all around in the evening. He wishes to go to some solitary and barren spot or some ancient ruined building among lonely valleys in the evening to watch its beauty. But if he is prevented from doing so by "chill, blustering winds or driving rain", he would like to go to a lovely cottage on the mountain side to watch the dark colored evening gradually descending over the surrounding landscape with the "gradual dusky veil”.

12. The poem ends with the poet's conviction that the evening shall continue to inspire fancy (poets), friendship (friends), science (men of learning), and smiling peace (lovers of peace) throughout the seasons of the year.

13. The figure of speech ‘ If  ought of oaten stop, or pastoral song May hope , chaste Eye, to soothe thy modest ear,       This is a case of   Apostrophe , since the abstract entity had been addressed as a person or deity .Evening has been addressed as   Eve. ‘ O nymph reserved, while now the bright-haired sun Sits in yon western tent, whose cloudy skirts,' This is a case of   personification   since the sun is referred to as a person sitting in a tent .       This is also a case of   Metaphor   since the sun is implicitly compared to a person with bright hair

14. . ‘ The fragrant Hours, and elves ’   ' The pensive Pleasures sweet, prepare thy shadowy car .'   This is a case of   Personification  since ‘Hours’ has been referred to as a deity, perhaps from the  Latin God of time, ‘ Cronus ’ This is primarily a case of     Paradox   . The two opposite words ‘ pensive ’ and pleasure ’ have been juxtaposed   for the sake of effect .

15. ‘Then lead, calm vot’ress , where some sheety lake…’  ‘ Prevent my willing feet, be mine the hut  ’       This is a case of   Personification.        This is   a case of   Synecdoche   , which substitutes part for the whole. The   ‘ feet ’ stand for the person   .

16.     'The dewy fingers draw The gradual dusky veil .'   'While Spring shall pour his showers, as oft he wont,   And bathe thy breathing tresses, meekest Eve;' This is a case of   Personification   since the evening is referred to as drawings or   pulling the dusky veil.She is personified as Goddess with heavenly qualities.     This is a case of   Personification   . Here ‘ summer ’ ‘ spring ’ , ‘ autumn ’ and ‘ winter ’ are referred to as persons . Eve is also referred to as a lady- 'meekest   Eve ’ .

17.     ‘ So long, regardful of thy quiet rule, Shall fancy, friendship, science, smiling peace,'     This is a case of   Personification   . Here ‘ Fancy ’ , ‘ friendship ’ , ‘ Science ’ and ‘ Health ’ have all been referred to as person .

18. Thank you