Meaning & Analysis
A simple simile describing something as having the deep, rich, and uniform black color characteristic of ebony wood.
Insights
Moral or Spiritual Darkness
The simile can metaphorically describe a state of absolute moral or spiritual darkness. To be 'black as ebony' suggests a profound corruption, malevolence, or despair that is deep-seated and unchangeable.
Sophistication and Value
Given that ebony is a prized, luxurious material, the simile can also connote a sophisticated, elegant, and powerful form of beauty. It represents a blackness that is not negative but rather sleek, valuable, and desirable.
Unyielding Severity
Ebony is known for its hardness and density. Metaphorically, this can describe a person's character or a situation as being severe, unyielding, or stern, possessing a formidable and unforgiving nature.
Historical Symbolism of Material
Ebony, an exotic and costly wood imported into Europe, symbolized not just darkness but also luxury, density, and value. The simile thus carries a complex cultural weight, blending the Western association of black with mourning and evil with the material's connotation of rarity and prestige.
Literary and Cultural Context
Shakespeare's use of the simile in 'Love's Labour's Lost' ('Thy love is black as ebony!') weaponizes it, equating blackness with a lack of beauty and virtue, reflecting Elizabethan aesthetic and racial biases. This contrasts with the wood's actual value, creating a potent literary tension.
Psychological Dimension
The choice of ebony, a hard and opaque material, over other black things (like night or shadow) suggests a solid, impenetrable, and profound quality of blackness. Psychologically, it evokes a sense of immutable, substantial darkness rather than a mere absence of light.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
The phrase is a direct comparison using 'as...as' to equate a subject's color with the intense blackness of ebony wood, making the description vivid and absolute.
Symbolism
Ebony itself functions as a symbol, carrying connotations of exoticism, value, density, and luxury. This enriches the simile beyond a simple color comparison, adding layers of meaning related to quality and substance.
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'b' sound in 'black' and 'ebony' creates a subtle phonetic link, making the phrase more cohesive and memorable.
Transcription
Quotations
I saw pales made of an Oke .. blacke as Ebony.
Shakespeare Citations
Thy love is black as ebony!
The clerestories toward the south north are as lustrous [ironical for black] as ebony.
Cross References
Original Scan
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