Light and Dark, Shade and Open Spaces: notes on Eclogues Book 1

The beginnings of shadow play between the light and dark is a prominent component in the Eclogues. From what I could translate, there were heavy imagery mentions of shade, and how it painted a cooling and relaxing atmosphere. I also took notice of certain words that suggested open spaces and wild feelings (if I, too, can be poetic). For example, the idea of the heavens or sky in line 18 made me think of a bright day or light being touched and shrouded by a tree canopy, and how this shows an image of nature covering our speakers organically. I also noticed that shade could be seen as a gateway to emotion. It either brings happiness with Tityrus. He is a lucky, old man for being able to relax under the shade - when he can finally stop working and retire!

As for a simple commentary of Eclogues 1, the use of light and dark, shadows, etc. give a sense of passing time. We start in the beginning with a sense of, possibly, a finished working day of traveling. A moment of reprieve, if you will. The sense of light starts to diminish away under the trees and from the caves, and head into nightfall. The great shadow, tall as a mountain, moves across the city homes as the poem ends. Could this be a foreboding feeling of dread in what was once a relaxing space? Things are slow, cool, and heavy in the shadows.

For this book, and as my first assignment post, I decided to make a list of sentences or lines that mention shadows, darkness, light, and so on. I added my own commentary and beliefs on what they mean in a, hopefully, broader and poetic context:

tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avena (1.1-2)

Reclining under a beech tree certainly gives a relaxed feeling to the beginning of this poem.

tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas. (1.4-5)

The first official mention of shade, the shadow of the trees gives a sense of slowed movements given by our speakers.

saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non laeva fuisset, de caelo tactas memini praedicere 

quercus.(1.16)

The sky is covered and touched with trees! This might be a stretch, but the image of trees becoming the sky struck me as something pleasant.

fortunate senex, hic inter flumina nota et fontis sacros frigus captabis opacum (1.51)

How lucky and happy it is to be an old man! You can lie in the cold/cooling shade, near your familiar and sacred surroundings.

maioresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae. (1.83)

Falling mountainous shadows as the poem closes….perhaps this is an image of the evening turning into the night?

If I miss any, please let me know! I look forward to your comments and other posts.