Let Evening Come

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1990

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

Unlike many of Jane Kenyon’s poems, “Let Evening Come” carries a loose metrical pattern of alternating between iambic and anapestic feet. Iambic is a metrical rhythm defined by an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in “the light” (Line 1) and “of late” (Line 1) in the poem’s opening line. An anapestic metrical rhythm is defined as a metrical foot comprised of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable, as in “as the sun” (Line 3). Scanned, the first stanza would look like this:

Let | the light | of late | afternoon

shine | through chinks | in the barn, | moving

up | the bales | as the sun | moves down (Lines 1-3).

The first metrical foot of each line is made up of an assumed unstressed syllable. In prosody, this is called a headless line, or an acephalous line; it’s defined by a metrical line that lacks the first (usually unstressed syllable); this occurs often in poems using iambic meter. Kenyon uses the headless line, choosing to stress the first word of each line instead of opening with a weaker, unstressed syllable. Stressed syllables are defined as having a louder sound than their unstressed counterparts. By beginning with the stressed word “Let,” for example, Kenyon starts the poem with not only a command, but a stressed metrical foot rooted in strength and power—which compliments the command form.

By using both iambic and anapestic metrical feet, Kenyon varies the poem’s rhythm, creating moments of softness and gentleness with the two unstressed syllables of the anapest. The two rhythms compliment and cooperate with each other, giving the poem a seamless effect as it’s being read. Rather than control or dominate the form, the two rhythms allow the poem to ebb and flow, symbolic of the poem’s imagery and context of light lowering, coming of night, and the ebb and flow of death and life.

Anaphora

Kenyon relies on repetition or anaphora in “Let Evening Come” to establish tone and drive the poem forward narratively. Anaphora is the repetition of a word or a phrase, particularly when placed at the beginning of a sentence or clause. Kenyon’s repeated “Let” and “Let evening come” are examples of this literary device. Anaphora, commonly used in various forms of music, appeals to a reader’s or listener’s emotions. It is often used to sway or persuade someone, or to motivate or encourage them. By repeating “Let” at the start of Stanzas 1-4 and Stanza 6, Kenyon appeals to the reader to not fear the nearing night, but to embrace it. The word “Let” is a command; the speaker of “Let Evening Come” encourages and commands the reader to allow this falling night to happen. This literary device establishes the tone of calmness, peace, and acceptance. The repeated “Let” also moves the narrative of the poem along as phases of the evening pass: The crickets begin to sing; the fox returns to its den-home, etc.

Similarly, the repeated phrase “Let evening come” constantly asks the reader to welcome this coming darkness and not to fight it. “Let evening come” is repeated four times throughout the poem: In the title and at the end of Stanzas 2, 4, and 6. By way of repetition, Kenyon creates a chant-like sound throughout the poem. The repeated phrase functions also as a metrical device, anchoring the poem in the rhythm of the words (“let evening come”). The phrase “Let evening come” becomes a moment of meditation throughout the poem that the speaker returns to again and again. By the final line, as though winning an argument and persuading their reader, the speaker offers this conclusion: “so let evening come” (Line 18).

Imagery

Kenyon’s choice of imagery in “Let Evening Come” discloses the rustic domesticity of farm life and surrounding nature. However, the images provide a deeper reading into the poem’s context and overall meaning. The poem describes the approaching night, but through select images, Kenyon expands these descriptions beyond how they appear on the surface. In Stanza 2, the cricket making its song by rubbing its legs is compared (by simile) to a woman “[taking] up her needles / and her yarn” (Lines 5-6). By painting the image of the cricket, and comparing it to the sewing woman, Kenyon expands the image. It is an image of a cricket and an image of a woman peacefully knitting at the end of day (or life). While a simile establishes the image of a knitting woman (the comparison of two unlike things using the word “like” or “as”) who is separate from the speaker, the knitting woman echoes throughout the poem as a representative image of a woman who is comfortable, calm, and content at the end of her life.

Likewise, Kenyon includes another complex image in Stanza 3: the moon. Much of “Let Evening Come” is told through direct language or statements that lack imagery (for example, “To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop / in the oats” [Lines 13-14]). However, when describing the approach of the stars and moon, Kenyon leaps into imagery with the lyrical description of “the moon [disclosing] her silver horn” (Line 9). The image of the “silver horn” (Line 9) is poignant, shocking, and surprising. Personified with an animal-like appendage, the moon suddenly feels as though it’s living. By using the word “silver” in Line 9, Kenyon implies light. In a poem about approaching night, including a sliver of light offers the speaker a brief consolation. However, the “horned” image of the moon carries a darker, troubling truth as well—that of coming death, which is a horned, ravenous beast.