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AY U B RYA N P R I M A D I T R A
Allusion in William Blake “Night”

ABSTRACT
As people know, poetry is as universal as language and almost as ancient. It has
been the concern of the folks not only the lowborn citizens but also the royal
families and the educated men. Poetry might be defined as a kind of language that
says more and says it more intensely than ordinary language does. Being in the
group of the intelligent, it is a must to study more intensively about the poetry. To
enjoy and love every time reading the poem is very important for the writer in
composing this essay. Night is a poem in the illuminated 1789 collection Songs of
Innocence by William Blake, later incorporated into the larger compilation Songs
of Innocence and of Experience. Night speaks about the coming of evil when
darkness arrives, as angels protect and keep the sheep from the impending
dangers. Night is a poem that describes two contrasting places: Earth, where
nature runs wild, and Heaven, where predation and violence are nonexistent.

INTRODUCTION
According to Chris Baldick in Oxford Concise Dictionary of
Literary Terms (2001:198), poetry is “language sung, chanted,
spoken, or written according to some pattern of recurrence that
emphasizes the relationships between words on basis of sound as
well as sense”. From the explanation, the writer concludes that
poetry is a work that can be understood if readers read it with
feeling, not just read with their senses of sight. When reading
poetry, it is just like travelling to the world that readers cannot
imagine before. The writer uses the poem Night to be analyzed.

NIGHT
The sun descending in the West,
The evening star does shine;
The birds are silent in their nest.
And I must seek for mine,
The moon, like a flower
In heaven’s high bower
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles on the night.

Farewell, green fields and happy groves,
Where flocks have took delight,
Where lambs have nibbled, silent moves
The feet of angels bright;
Unseen, they pour blessing,
And joy without ceasing,
On each bud and blossom,
And each sleeping bosom.

They look in every thoughtless nest
Where birds are covered warm;
They visit caves of every beast,
To keep them all from harm:
If they see any weeping
That should have been sleeping,
They pour sleep on their head,
And sit down by their bed.

When wolves and tigers howl for prey,
They pitying stand and weep;
Seeking to drive their thirst away,
And keep them from the sheep.
But, if they rush dreadful,
The angels, most heedful,
Receive each mild spirit,
New worlds to inherit.

And there the lion’s ruddy eyes
Shall flow with tears of gold:
And pitying the tender cries,
And walking round the fold:
Saying: ‘Wrath by His meekness,
And, by His health, sickness,
Is driven away
From our immortal day.

And now beside thee, bleating lamb,
I can lie down and sleep,
Or think on Him who bore thy name,
Graze after thee, and weep.
For, washed in life’s river,
My bright mane for ever
Shall shine like the gold,
As I guard o’er the fold.

LITERARY REVIEW
Laurence Perrine explains in Sound and Sense (1984:134),
“For an allusion ̶ a reference to something in history or
previous literature ̶ is, like a richly connotative word or a
symbol, a means of suggesting far more than it says.”

DISCUSSION
The first and the second stanza explain Jesus ascension to heaven.
The sun is described as Jesus, “And was transfigured before them:
and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the
light” (Matt 17:2. KJV). The sun is saying goodbye to the earth as
it sets over the horizon.
In the second stanza, the guardian angels appear. They are described
as bearers of luck and joy, whom visit all the sleeping creatures of
the earth in order to protect them from harm. The ‘lambs’ symbolize
the Christian people, “So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture
will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all
generations” (Psalm 79:13. KJV). The ‘lambs’ can also be
reference to deep sleep, when one counts sheep jumping over a
fence.

CONTINUED
The third stanza is continuation of the second. It describes the
duties of the angels. The angels take on the role of dutiful
parents, whom sit at their children’s bedside as they sleep.
The forth stanza, Blake uses ‘wolves’ and ‘tigers’ to symbolize
the devil, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour” (1 Peter 5:8. KJV).Although the angels are meant to
protect those who are sleeping, they are powerless to stop the
blood thirsty predators.

CONTINUED
In the last two stanza, the sun makes its reappearance. The lion
whose eyes “flow with tears of gold” symbolizes both the sun and
Jesus, as Hosea said, “For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as
a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will take away, and none shall rescue him” (Hosea 5:14. KJV).
In the last stanza, Blake shows us that Jesus is the ultimate guardian
angel. All men, women, and children are sheep of God’s great flock,
and Jesus is the benevolent shepherd as it is written in Hebrews,
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20. KJV).

CONCLUSION
‘Night’ written by William Blake generally describes Jesus as the
faithful helper and protector. In the first stanza, Blake describes
Jesus ascension to heaven. In the second stanza, Jesus sends angels
to protect the Christian people from harm. But, in the next stanza,
even the angels are powerless, they cannot drive away the bloody
thirst of the devil. Jesus is the ultimate guardian angel as Black
describes in the fifth stanza. The Christians need not to be afraid
anymore, they have Jesus who protects him to face the devil as a
roaring lion. Jesus will always be there to watch over the creatures
of the earth, and that not even death can break that promise. Jesus’
love towards Christians is really beautiful. He still love them
knowing they might not love Him back. This is true love which
Blake wants to describe.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baldick, Chris. 2001. 2nd ed. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary
Terms. New York: Oxford University Press, accessed in June 25, 2012,
from bookfi
Fromm, Erich. 1995. The Art of Loving. Great Britain: Thorsons.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 2000. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Perrine, Laurence. 1984. 5th ed. Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense.
USA: Harcourt College Pub.
The Holy Bible, King James Version. New York: American Bible Society:
1999; Bartleby.com, 2000. www.bartleby.com/108/
Quinn, Edward. 2006. 2nd ed. A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms.
New York: Infobase Publishing, accessed in June 25, 2012, from bookfi

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Allusion in WIlliam Blake "Night"

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