Notes: Marsh Song — At Sunset
At the first reading, no doubt, this song appears indistinct, though poetical. On a second reading, however, with Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’ fresh in mind, it seems, as it is, highly artistic; and we wonder at the happy use made of the Shakespearean characters: the gracious, forgiving Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan; Antonio, his usurping brother, forgiven notwithstanding; Caliban, the savage, deformed, fish-like slave; and Ariel, the ministering spirit of the air.
With ‘At Sunset’ compare Lanier’s ‘Evening Song’, another and a more agreeable sunset picture.