#WingedWordsWindsday: 2023/02/01 -- Venus Returns to the Evening Sky

WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY

Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)

Vol. 2, No. 14: February 1, 2023

 

Celebrating the Return of Venus to the Evening Sky

 

A Note from the Editor

                The planet Venus has returned to the evening sky! Visible low in the southwest shortly after sunset, she appears to be a silvery pearl, shining steadily on the dome of the sky. As the weeks go by, and Winter turns to Spring, Venus will climb higher – and shine brighter – in the evening twilight sky. Venus is my favorite planet to observe in the night sky, both with the naked eye and through binoculars.

                Venus was observed and venerated throughout the ancient world under a variety of names and epithets, including “the Daystar” (as the herald of dawn or dusk). In Mesopotamia, the planet was known as Inanna (in Sumerian) and Ishtar (in Akkadian); in Persia, her ruling intelligence was known as the yazata (archangel) Anahita; the Phoenicians knew her by the name of Astarte. Among the Greeks, the planet had three appellations: Phosphorus (when she appeared in the morning sky before sunrise), Hesperus (when she appeared in the evening sky after sunset), and Aphrodite (the proper name of the planet herself). The planet’s modern name, Venus, has been borrowed directly from Latin, and in the Romance languages descended from Latin, Friday is named after Venus as well.

                This week, I’m sharing a garland of poems about the planet Venus (and the celestial intelligence that was believed to indwell and guide her) from across the centuries, beginning with the ancient Greeks and continuing through British and North American poets of recent centuries. These poems celebrate a wide variety of Venus’ aspects and characteristics, especially in her role as the divine patron of romantic love. Be sure to watch for the beautiful Evenstar on the next clear evening in your neighborhood!

 

Orphic Hymn #54: “To Venus”

Translated by Thomas Taylor (1758-1835)

Heavenly, illustrious, laughter-loving queen,

Sea-born, night-loving, of an awesome mien;

Crafty, from whom necessity first came,

Producing, nightly, all-connecting dame:

'Tis thine the world with harmony to join,

For all things spring from thee, O power divine.

The triple Fates are ruled by thy decree,

And all productions yield alike to thee:

Whatever the heavens, encircling all contain,

Earth fruit-producing, and the stormy main,

Thy sway confesses, and obeys thy nod,

Awesome attendant of the brumal god:

Goddess of marriage, charming to the sight,

Mother of Loves, whom banquetings delight;

Source of persuasion, secret, favoring queen,

Illustrious born, apparent and unseen:

Spousal, Lupercal, and to men inclined,

Prolific, most-desired, life-giving., kind:

Great scepter-bearer of the gods, 'tis thine,

Mortals in necessary bands to join;

And every tribe of savage monsters dire

In magic chains to bind, through mad desire.

Come, Cyprus-born, and to my prayer incline,

Whether exalted in the heavens you shine,

Or pleased in Syria's temple to preside,

Or over the Egyptian plains thy car to guide,

Fashioned of gold; and near its sacred flood,

Fertile and famed to fix thy blest abode;

Or if rejoicing in the azure shores,

Near where the sea with foaming billows roars,

The circling choirs of mortals, thy delight,

Or beauteous nymphs, with eyes cerulean bright,

Pleased by the dusty banks renowned of old,

To drive thy rapid, two-yoked car of gold;

Or if in Cyprus with thy mother fair,

Where married women praise thee every year,

And beauteous virgins in the chorus join,

Adonis pure to sing and thee divine;

Come, all-attractive to my prayer inclined,

For thee, I call, with holy, reverent mind.

 

Homeric Hymn #10: “To Venus”

Translated by George Chapman (1559-1634)

To Cyprian Venus still my verses vow,

Who gifts as sweet as honey doth bestow

On all mortality; that ever smiles,

And rules a face that all foes reconciles;

Ever sustaining in her hand a flower

That all desire keeps ever in her power.

Hail, then, O Queen of well-built Salamine,

And all the state that Cyprus doth confine,

Inform my song with that celestial fire

That in thy beauties kindles all desire.

So shall my Muse forever honor thee,

And any other thou commends to me.

 

In this depiction from ancient Mesopotamia (12^th century BCE), Venus, the Moon, and the Sun are shown left-to-right at the top. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

“Hesperus the Bringer”

By Sappho (630-570 BCE)

Translation Anonymous (Public Domain)

O Hesperus, thou bringest all good things –

Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer,

To the young bird the parent's brooding wings,

The welcome stall to the overlabored steer;

Whatever our household gods protect of dear,

Are gathered round us by thy look of rest;

Thou bring'st the child too to its mother's breast.

 

Venus (as the Daystar) in Old English!

(Cynewulf, 8th Century CE)

Ëala Ëarendel, engla beorhtast,

Ofer middangeard monnum sended

“Hail Daystar, of angels the brightest,

Over Middle-Earth to humankind sent!”

 

“To the Evening Star”

By William Blake (1757-1827)

Thou fair-haired angel of the evening,

Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light

Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown

Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

Smile on our loves, and while thou drawest the

Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew

On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes

In timely sleep. Let thy west wing sleep on

The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,

And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon,

Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide,

And the lion glares through the dun forest.

The fleeces of our flocks are covered with

Thy sacred dew; protect with them with thine influence.

 

“To the Planet Venus”

(Upon Its Approximation [as an Evening Star] to the Earth, January 1838.)

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

What strong allurement draws, what spirit guides,

Thee, Vesper! brightening still, as if the nearer

Thou comes to man's abode the spot grew dearer

Night after night? True is it Nature hides

Her treasures less and less. — Man now presides

In power, where once he trembled in his weakness;

Science advances with gigantic strides;

But are we aught enriched in love and meekness?

Aught dost thou see, bright Star! of pure and wise

More than in humbler times graced human story;

That makes our hearts more apt to sympathize

With heaven, our souls more fit for future glory,

When earth shall vanish from our closing eyes,

Ere we lie down in our last dormitory?

 

This photo of Venus, showing its global cloud cover in ultraviolet light, was taken by NASA’s Mariner 10 probe on February 5, 1974. (Photo Credit: NASA – Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

“To the Evening Star”

By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

O meek attendant of Sol's setting blaze,

I hail, sweet star, thy chaste effulgent glow;

On thee full oft with fixéd eye I gaze

Till I, methinks, all spirit seem to grow.

O first and fairest of the starry choir,

O loveliest 'mid the daughters of the night,

Must not the maid I love like thee inspire

Pure joy and calm Delight?

Must she not be, as is thy placid sphere

Serenely brilliant? Whilst to gaze a while

Be all my wish 'mid Fancy's high career

E'en till she quit this scene of earthly toil;

Then Hope perchance might fondly sigh to join

Her spirit in thy kindred orb, O Star benign!

 

“The Evening Star”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Lo! in the painted oriel of the West,

Whose panes the sunken sun incarnadines,

Like a fair lady at her casement, shines

The evening star, the star of love and rest!

And then anon she doth herself divest

Of all her radiant garments, and reclines

Behind the somber screen of yonder pines,

With slumber and soft dreams of love oppressed.

O my beloved, my sweet Hesperus!

My morning and my evening star of love!

My best and gentlest lady! even thus,

As that fair planet in the sky above,

Dost thou retire unto thy rest at night,

And from thy darkened window fades the light.

 

“Evening Star”

Edgar Allan Poe

'Twas noontide of summer,

And mid-time of night;

And stars, in their orbits,

Shone pale, thro' the light

Of the brighter, cold Moon,

'Mid planets her slaves,

Herself in the Heavens,

Her beam on the waves.

I gazed awhile

On her cold smile;

Too cold – too cold for me –

There passed, as a shroud,

A fleecy cloud,

And I turned away to thee,

Proud Evening Star,

In thy glory afar,

And dearer thy beam shall be;

For joy to my heart

Is the proud part

Thou bearest in Heaven at night,

And more I admire

Thy distant fire,

Than that colder, lowly light.

 

“February Twilight”

By Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

I stood beside a hill

Smooth with new-laid snow,

A single star looked out

From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature

That saw what I could see –

I stood and watched the Evening Star

As long as it watched me.

 

“Evening Star”

By H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)

I saw it from that hidden, silent place

Where the old wood half shuts the meadow in.

It shone through all the sunset’s glories — thin

At first, but with a slowly brightening face.

Night came, and that lone beacon, amber-hued,

Beat on my sight as never it did of old;

The Evening Star — but grown a thousandfold

More haunting in this hush and solitude.

It traced strange pictures on the quivering air —

Half-memories that had always filled my eyes —

Vast towers and gardens; curious seas and skies

Of some dim life — I never could tell where.

But now I knew that through the cosmic dome

Those rays were calling from my far, lost home.

 

Up until about half a billion years ago, Venus is thought to have had oceans of liquid water and a temperate climate – before a series of volcanic catastrophes triggered a runaway greenhouse effect that rendered the planet uninhabitable. (Image Credit: NASA – Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meliorism: A Worldview for Our Time

Hello everyone --

A great deal of unsettling news has been reaching us through the news media over the last few weeks. From the American Midwest to Eastern Europe and the Middle East, scenes of chaos and despair haunt our TV screens on a nightly basis. Dealing with these global realities of life in the 21^st century isn’t an easy task, but it is a task that can be accomplished with the aid of historical perspective, mixed with a generous helping of hope and wisdom. This fortnight’s quotations, drawn from various sources, have provided comfort, inspiration, and a greater sense of perspective to me, and now I am sharing them with you.

 

“For a life worthy to be lived is one that is full of active aspiration, for something higher and better; and such a contemplation of the world we call meliorism.”

-- Paul Carus (1852-1919): Monism and Meliorism (1885)

“I’m not an optimist; there’s too much evil in the world and in me. Nor am I a pessimist; there is too much good in the world and in God. So I am just a meliorist, believing that He wills to make the world better, and trying to do my bit to help and wishing that it were more.”

-- Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)

 

The Ages of Humankind: A Myth for All Times & Climes

Excerpted from “A Golden Jubilee Interview with the Editor” by Maria Pauls Flannagan (ACES James Scholar Alumna & Bronze Tableteer, Class of 2014)

Reprinted from Cursus Honorum (Course of Honors), Volume XII, Number 1 (August 2012)

• Maria: What is your favorite mythological story of all time and why?
• Rob: The myth of the “Ages of Humankind” is my all-time favorite. This story appears in the Greek, Persian, Hindu, and Abrahamic religions. There are four main ages of human history, the story goes. The first is the Golden Age, where everything is very harmonious and peaceful; then comes the Silver Age, when the human condition is a bit less harmonious and peaceful, but still idyllic. Next is the Bronze Age, wherein people may sometimes be heroic, but conflict and injustice begin to rear their ugly heads. Last of all is the Iron Age, which is the age we live in, full of conflict, disasters, and hardships. In the Greek version of this story, Astraea, the goddess of justice, ruled the world during the Golden Age, but later – because of humankind’s inhumanity to humankind – she departed into the sky to become the constellation Virgo, the celestial Maiden who holds the Scales of Justice (Libra) in her hand. Once this current Iron Age is done, the myth goes on, we will go back to this perfect age, the Golden Age, and Astraea will come back, and everyone will be nice and in harmony. I like this myth best of all because it inspires us to strive for better conditions on Earth, in which human beings can flourish and build a better society based on justice, freedom, and peace for all peoples.

 

“Hope” by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune -- without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

 

Some Poetical Wisdom from Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

 

From “Ulysses”:

Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

 

From “Locksley Hall”:

For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;
Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,
With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;
Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled
In the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World.
There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,
And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapped in universal law.

 

From “Locksley Hall Sixty Years After”:

Earth at last a warless world, a single race, a single tongue,

I have seen her far away--for is not Earth as yet so young?--

Every tiger madness muzzled, every serpent passion killed,

Every grim ravine a garden, every blazing desert tilled,

Robed in universal harvest up to either pole she smiles,

Universal ocean softly washing all her warless Isles.

                    *                                        *                                        *

Only That which made us, meant us to be mightier by and by,

Set the sphere of all the boundless Heavens within the human eye,

Sent the shadow of Himself, the boundless, thro' the human soul;

Boundless inward, in the atom, boundless outward, in the Whole.

                    *                                        *                                        *

Follow you the Star that lights a desert pathway, yours or mine.

Forward, till you see the highest Human Nature is divine.

Follow Light, and do the Right--for Man can half-control his doom--

Till you find the deathless Angel seated in the vacant tomb.

Forward, let the stormy moment fly and mingle with the Past.

I that loathed, have come to love him. Love will conquer at the last.

 

Portrait of Dr. Henry Van Dyke – a renowned professor of English at Princeton University; a prominent American diplomat during World War I; and a beloved author of poetry and prose (including The Story of the Other Wise Man, from 1895). Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

 

Until next time,

Rob