"Sad Hesper," the evening star, only rises to "follow the buried sun;"
but, in the "dim and dimmer" light of late afternoon, it watches the
conclusion of man's daily labours. The teams are loosened from the
waggons, "the boat is drawn upon the shore," the house door is closed,
"and life is darken'd in the brain" of the sleeper.
Phosphor, the morning star, sees the renewal of life; the bird with its
early song, the rising sun, the market boat again floating and voices
calling to it from the shore, the village blacksmith with his clinking
hammer, and the team again harnessed and at work.
Hesper and Phosphor are simply the one planet Venus, which according to
its position with the sun, becomes the morning or evening star.
So the Poet sings,
"Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name
For what is one, the first, the last,
Thou, like my present and my past,
Thy place is changed; thou art the same."
Hallam has only been removed: he is not altered into something else--"not
lost, but gone before." No--_the writer is rather referring to himself_:
and as his own "present" and "past" are so different; the latter, with a
bright prospect, may be likened to the morning star, Phosphor; whilst the
former, full of gloom and sorrow, is represented by Hesper, the star of
evening, and precursor of black night.