The Twilight Turns

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THE Twilight Turns

by James Joyce

The twilight turns from amethyst
To deep and deeper blue,
The lamp fills with a pale green glow
The trees of the avenue.

The old piano plays an air,
Sedate and slow and gay;
She bends upon the yellow keys,
Her head inclines this way.

Shy thought and grave wide eyes and hands
That wander as they list — –
The twilight turns to darker blue
With lights of amethyst.

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Some of you might wonder what color exactly is amethyst. To avoid an argument, here is the official answer:

Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek αμέθυστος amethystos from α- a-, “not” and μεθύσκω (Ancient Greek) methysko / μεθώ metho (Modern Greek), “intoxicate”, a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness.^[1] Ancient Greeks wore amethyst and carved drinking vessels from it in the belief that it would prevent intoxication.

Perhaps you can now imagine a violet sky, just as the setting sun purples it while leaving for the day.

In this piece, Joyce describes, with vivid imagery, the moment of change as day fades into night. The poem consists of twelve lines, broken into three quatrains. Each stanza includes an ABCB rhyme scheme. The meter of the poem is alternating between iambic tetrameter on odd numbered lines and iambic trimeter on even lines – with line four being an exception and containing an additional syllable. The poem is replete with multiple types of imagery – visual, auditory, and movement-based.

Stanza One:

The twilight turns from amethyst
To deep and deeper blue,
The lamp fills with a pale green glow
The trees of the avenue.

The poet focuses in this stanza on visual imagery, describing various colors includes first an amethyst and then deep and deeper blue sky. He also describes the trees as pale green and glowing.

This stanza sets the scene and the mood for the rest of the piece. At this point, the mood feels pensive and somber, or perhaps even sad. The violet color of line 1 is vanishing and even the green trees are described as “pale.”

Stanza Two:

The old piano plays an air,
Sedate and slow and gay;
She bends upon the yellow keys,
Her head inclines this way.

This quatrain introduces the readers to the piece’s main character. The mood continues to evoke feelings of somberness or even grief and loss, with the piano described as old, its keys yellow, and the music as sedate and slow. However, a contrast is also now added to complicate things. The music is also described as “gay.”

Joyce does not identify the woman playing the piano just yet, and he describes only her posture. We can imagine the scene better with more complexity in place.

Stanza Three:

Shy thought and grave wide eyes and hands
That wander as they list — –
The twilight turns to darker blue
With lights of amethyst.

The third stanza describes the woman further, and the description is both ambiguous and evocative. We as the Reader can project what we like onto the description of “sly thoughts” and “grave wide eyes.” She is bent, her head inclined – neither of which indicate vigor, and she is also described as having hands that “wander.”

Joyce inverts the poem’s beginning at its end. As the piece began with a sky the color of amethyst, it ends revealing lights the color of amethyst in a dark blue sky. The inversion perpetuates the ambiguous mood of the poem, leaving the reader not knowing precisely how to feel. Color is fading but color is revealed. Music is sedate, slow, AND gay. Our unnamed piano player has sly thoughts.

Personally, I really enjoy the scene itself and I also enjoy Joyce’s decision not to define the mood. I can read this piece many times and project whatever mood I like onto it without being wrong.