Transcending the Cosmos in “A Summer Evening’s Meditation” Dessi Maegan Gravely College

“A Summer Evening’s Meditation” is a poem by Anna Letitia Barbauld that was published in 1773. The poem details the expansive thoughts of the speaker who is reflecting and philosophizing upon a summer evening’s sky. In this poem, Barbauld carries readers through the cosmos for a transcendental experience with her poetic stylization and by use of literary devices, specifically personification. Through personification of planets and stars, Barbauld communicates the speaker’s feeling of divine connection to nature. Barbauld’s “A Summer Evening’s Meditation” is a Romantic presentation of an astral projection-like meditative experience that leads to a greater knowledge of the self and a closer connection to God.

The poem begins at the close of day, and the speaker of the poem is eased by the sun’s setting because the night sky allows for a more meditative state of mind. Barbauld describes the sun as an oppressive figure who stifles the wonders of the night sky through personification. This portrayal of the sun highlights the importance of the temporal setting of night time for the speaker’s transcendental experience; further, this attribution of humanlike qualities to the sun allows the speaker to understand the sun in a more...