Mount Asta is presented as a mountain on the sun’s celestial route and as a landmark in a wider, mythic geography. Its peaks mark the point where the sun sinks from sight; beyond them, the poem’s account reaches the edge of what is known.

Setting and Description

The poem places the setting sun behind Mount Asta’s height. The mountain is therefore described less as a settled landscape than as a decisive point on a vast horizon: the sun’s course can be followed up to its disappearance, but not beyond it.

A separate image sets Mount Asta in relation to Mount Meru. Between the two, the poem places a palm with ten tall stems, its base made of pure silver and its lustre cast far around. This striking detail gives the mountain a place within an extraordinary, jewel-bright cosmological landscape rather than an ordinary geographical itinerary.

Place in the Poem’s Geography

Mount Asta helps distinguish what the poem can see from what remains unknown. After describing the sun sinking behind it, the speaker says that the sunless sea beyond is unknown. The mountain thus serves as a threshold in the poem’s account of the world: a named landmark makes the edge of the known route vivid, while the sea beyond marks the limit of description.