Ode to Evening by William Collin

 The 'Ode to Evening' is the best and finest lyric of the eighteenth century. It is Collins best poem. It shows his faith in Nature and his poetic faculty. It is written in rhymeless stanzas of four lines . Its twilight atmosphere, its Nature imagery and its lyrical quality make it one of the master pieces of English Nature poetry.

The poet invokes the spirit of Evening . He describes what generally happens in the evening and what he wants to do. He offers to compose a pastoral poem to sooth her ears as the murmuring brooks and gradually dying winds. When the sun is setting in the west , it looks like a tent whose borders are made of clouds. These clouds are hanging from the wave -like bed of the sun. There is silence everywhere. Only the screaming noise made by the dim -sighted bat and the faint angry sound produced by the beetle are heard. The beetle flies in the air. The poet prays to the quiet evening to teach him to sing a soft song.

The valley is becoming darker. The soft song suits to the quiet atmosphere. The song greets the return of the lovable evening. The evening star folds up the day and announces the arrival of the evening. It gives a signal that day has ended and the night is coming. When the evening appears the super natural beings like the fragrant hours,elves,nymphs etc., begin to awaken. Many of the fairies cover their fore heads with the plants which grow on the rive banks. From them drops of water fall down like dew The pleasure of evening get themselves ready to welcome the evening and they are preparing the shadowy car of the evening . The poet likes to roam over some widening grounds or visit some ruined buildings in a barren Heath whose grey walls will produce in him some awe in the dim light of the evening.

If the cold, violent wind or the tempestuous rain prevents the poet from going to such ruined places, he will spend the evening in a hut at the mountain side. From there he will watch the brown villages and the dimly seen towers of the church and hear the church bells ringing. From there he watches the gradual spreading of darkness over the earth. When spring comes along with showers of rain,it drenches the sweet smelling hair of the evening.

When summer comes it loves to play under the prolonged light of the evening. When autumn comes, the leaves turn pale and yellow .The autumn loves to fill the lap of the evening with heaps of dry leaves. When autumn comes, the leaves turn pale and yellow.The autumn loves to fill the lap of the evening with heaps dry leaves . When winter comes it shouts and howls through air and frightens the shrinking days and does a lot of damage .

As long as these seasons continue to perform their respective function in the evening the poets , believers in friendship,scientists and peaceful persons would acknowledge the greatest influence of the evening over them and would utter the dear name 'Evening'.