Evening Essay Questions

In her poem "Evening," how does H.D. use the mundane or ordinary process of nightfall to make the reader think about the human condition?

With her vivid and detailed imagery, the speaker of the poem walks the reader through the slow effects of dusk on a group of flowers. Following the gradual folding inward, fading, and darkening process in this light/flower relationship, the poem serves as a reminder of similar processes within the human psyche and experience. The fading light, the turning inward, and the eventual absence of visibility all allude to the way the mind forgets, turns away from itself and the world, and, eventually, is lost—either through repression, chaos, or death.

How is H.D.'s poem "Evening" different than her other flower poems in Sea Garden?

Instead of referencing the gender dynamics within society, "Evening" takes a broader approach to the conditions of human life. Nightfall for each flower is an individual and nuanced process, and yet also one that is entirely universal—just like many features of human experience. The poem's imagery of a sea of tiny flowers becoming indiscernible invites thoughts about the way individuality, by virtue of cycles we cannot control, dissolves or disintegrates into the larger fabric of life. Also, nightfall within the psyche, for example, happens to both men and women, if we take "nightfall" as an allegory for confusion, repression, forgetting, oblivion, or loss. Therefore, although the flowers in the work of H.D. are often symbols of female strength and endurance, the flowers in "Evening" call for a more sweeping acknowledgment of how darkness and dissipation shape the trajectory of life.