Let Evening Come

Much of the imagery and symbolism used in “Let Evening Come” is domestic, or of the house or farm. Kenyon, who is “remembered for her stoic portraits of domestic and rural life” (“Jane Kenyon.” Poetry Foundation), spent much of her life living on a farm in New Hampshire. By using the symbolism of domestic objects, Kenyon paints a scene of a quiet farmland where evening approaches; however, she also comments on the larger concept of time passing and “evening” being more than a single night, but many over hundreds or thousands of years. In Stanza 3, “the hoe abandoned / in the long grass” (Lines 7-8), for example, is a symbol for a passing form of work on a farm—farm work done by hand with a hoe. By using the word “abandoned” (Line 7), the hoe represents an object that has been laid down for some time; many evenings have come and gone since the hoe was used, so the lines take on a nostalgic tone for the time when farm work included this connection with the perceived simplicity of work done by hand.

Kenyon weaves the imagery and symbolism of domestic objects with nature throughout “Let Evening Come.” In Stanza 4, following the descriptions of the fox and the lowering wind, the speaker turns to “the shed” (Line 11), which has “[gone] black inside” (Line 12). Again, Kenyon argues that evening and death do not only come to those who live, but they also come to these inanimate objects; either by going out of fashion or use, they too can “die,” and their lives can be put to rest. This happens again in the penultimate stanza when the speaker lists “the bottle in the ditch” (Line 13) and “the scoop / in the oats” (Lines 13-14), followed by the very human “air in the lung” (Line 14). Everything, regardless of whether it breathes, experiences a quietness and lifelessness as evening approaches. By including domestic objects, Kenyon comments on the larger motif and theme of time’s passing over generations and ages.