In “To the Evening Star”, William Blake expresses his worries over the oppressive nature of the major social institutions of his time such as the state and the church as well as his belief in the benevolence of nature towards the oppressed. Do you agree?

 

Yes, I agree with the statement that the Early Romantic poet William Blake expresses his concern over the oppressive nature of the major social institutions of his period as well as his belief in the benevolence of nature towards the oppressed. With regard to his attitude to the benevolent powers of nature, I believe that Blake shows that he is one of the earliest Romantics.

Let us first look at how Blake expresses his concern over the oppressive nature of at least some of the important social institutions of his period. The poet uses the metaphors a lion and a wolf to represent the powerful social institutions of his period. They could of course be the state, the church or any other powerful group. The royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom depicts two rampant lions. In the 11^th and 12^th lines of the sonnet, in referring to these institutions, Blake says, “the wolf rages wide,/And then the lion glares through the dun forest”. Juxtaposed with the maternal and benevolent Evening Star, the raging wolf and the glaring lion stand out as symbols of oppression. The prey of the lion and the wolf is obviously the flock and even the shepherd himself.

However, if we are to understand family as a major social institution, then Blake projects a warm caring picture of this institution. The shepherd in the poem worries about his loved ones:

Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light

Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown

Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

It is mainly his concern over his loved ones that makes the poetic persona invoke the Evening Star and ask her to illuminate the rapidly darkening world so that his loved one would be protected in the ensuing darkness. Sleep is a state in which a living thing is at its most vulnerable and the poetic persona pleads with the Evening Star to protect the “flower[s]” that shut their “sweet eyes/in timely sleep” by smiling on them, drawing the “blue curtain of sky” and by scattering her “silver dew” which once again shows his concern for the wellbeing of his loved ones. Next, he asks the Evening Star to prevent social turmoil which the “west wind” could unleash on his loved ones: “Let thy west wind sleep on/ The lake”. In P B Shelley’s “Ode to West Wind”, the term west wind refers to revolution. Ultimately, Blake asks the benevolent goddess to “speak silence with …[her] glimmering eyes” which can be understood as a call for peace and social stability so that his loved ones could lead a trouble free life. The reference to dusk can be interpreted as existence of evil and/or social unrest unleashed on people by something like a revolution. The poetic persona wants the goddess to use her silver light as an antidote against the dusk.  The family Blake projects is an institution presided over a benevolent patriarch who like a concerned shepherd does everything within his power to ensure the wellbeing of his flock.

 

The poem also projects Blake’s belief that nature is benevolent towards those who are oppressed. Here, nature is symbolized by the Evening Star while the oppressed are symbolized by both the shepherd and his flock as well as the flowers that shut their eyes in timely sleep. At the moment the Evening Star is not doing anything. However, it is approachable. Therefore, the shepherd does not hesitate to make a series of request with the utmost conviction that his requests would be facilitated by the goddess. The positive qualities of the Evening Star are illustrated by the poet by associating her with words such as “glimmering”, “smile”, “shine”, “bright”, “radiant” and “love”. He brings out the benevolent qualities of the maternal goddess by contrasting them with those of the wolf and the lion. The latter are associated with “dusk” and they “rage” and “glare” – obviously at the helpless flock. In the last two lines, the poet states his unshakable faith in the ability and the willingness of his patron goddess to protect him and his loved ones from the marauding lions and wolves of his contemporary society: “The fleeces of our flocks are cover'd with/ Thy sacred dew”. The poem ends with an imperative invoking the goddess one last time to protect his loved ones.      

In conclusion, looking at the discussion so far, it is clear that William Blake in his poem “To the Evening Star” deals with the oppressive social institutions which could be the state and the organized mainstream church. However, as we have discussed, his take on the family as a social institution is quite positive. His family is a warm caring space. In addition, the reference to the shepherd and his flock can also be read as a reference to the non-mainstream religious orders who are more concerned with the wellbeing of their followers, too.

Looking at the second part of the question, undoubtedly, Blake projects nature which is represented by the Evening Star as a benevolent maternal figure that her devotees can have a close relationship with and to whom one can appeal with perfect faith in her approachability.