Let Evening Come

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1990

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

The Complexity of Evening

Evening serves as an essential, complex theme in “Let Evening Come.” Referenced in the title, evening can on the surface appear as simply the coming night. The poem begins with the fading “light of late afternoon” (Line 1), the lowering of the sun, and the approach of night, complete with stars and moon. However, the theme of evening grows more complex as the poem expands. Evening becomes synonymous with a growing quiet, when the speaker describes in Stanza 4 the fox returning “to its sandy den” (Line 10) and the wind dying down (Line 11). Evening also adopts a greater meaning in the following stanza when even the “air in the lung” (Line 14) welcomes evening.

The theme is greater than a single dark night approaching. Evening grows to represent an eternal stillness and death. This growing representation appears in the final stanza when the speaker implores that the reader “don’t / be afraid” (Lines 16-17) of the coming darkness. Throughout the poem, the speaker readies the reader for coming death. The poem, with a tone of calmness and welcoming, seeks to invite death, for—like coming night—it cannot be avoided. As the speaker says, “Let it come, as it will” (Line 16).

Time as Documentation

Time is a central, pivotal theme in “Let Evening Come.” From the start of the poem, the speaker references time when they describe the “light of late afternoon” (Line 1) lowering, the action of light against various farm structures (“chinks” [Line 2]; “bales” [Line 3]). The sun’s movement indicates the forward movement of time, and the speaker uses light and the approaching darkness to enhance this theme. Time in “Let Evening Come” moves slowly and deliberately. The dew collects (Line 7), and the fox scurries into its den (Line 10); night touches everything. As a theme, the speaker slows time down to the minute, documenting the slow close of a day. This movement represents not one evening but many evenings over the course of a lifetime.

Time, represented through the passing of day and the transition from day to night, cannot be stopped, paused, or stalled. It continues, regardless of one’s wishes or wants. Because of this, time gains gravity as a theme; it represents the close of a single day, but it also represents the close of a life. All life must come to an end. And all life cited in the poem (e.g., the cricket “chafing” [Line 4] its legs; the “woman [taking] up her needles” [Line 5]) will also come to an end, just as the speaker’s (and the reader’s) life will. The theme of time in “Let Evening Come” is an essential theme commenting on the larger scope and mission of the poem: that of welcoming, and not fearing, the inevitability of death.

Acceptance and Welcoming

“Let Evening Come” employs a welcoming, invitational tone through the repeated word and phrase “Let” and “Let evening come.” By repeating these, and by using this word and phrase specifically, the poem establishes the theme of acceptance and welcoming. Thematically, acceptance means consenting to a particular fate. Evening, or death, cannot be outrun. The passing of time is continual. Each day will end, and each life will also end. Therefore, evening, or death, is inevitable. By adopting a tone of acceptance and even one of invitation and welcome, Kenyon adopts (and explores) a calming approach to a very complex, frightening subject.

Repeated many times, the word “let” in the poem serves as a mantra that allows the speaker to focus (as one might in meditation) on a single thought or idea. In the case of this theme, the focus is on accepting the passing of time, the coming night, and one’s approaching demise. Accepting change and the continued turning of the day removes the speaker from some of the responsibility. Evening will come, regardless of how they react, so the speaker believes it better to allow it to come, rather than “be afraid” (Line 17) and fight it or fear it. The speaker therefore takes responsibility for her mindset. The final lines of the poem invoke God and affirms that “God does not leave us / comfortless” (Line 18). This line acts as a reasoning for their acceptance of evening and death. Acceptance is a prominent theme because it allows the poem to end in consolation; by allowing evening to come for the previous five stanzas without judgment or fear, the speaker can also allow death to come in similar comfort.