Yuyake-zora

夕焼空/焦げきわまれる/下にして
　　　氷らんとする/湖の静けさ
(島木赤彦 1876-1926)

yuyake-zora / koge-kiwamareru / shita ni shite
　　　kooran to suru / umi no shizukesa
(Shimaki Akahiko 1876-1926)

sunset sky
burnt to a crisp -
bring it down:
　　　the quiet of the
　　　unfrozen lake


If you can tell me what is meant by 'shita ni shite' here, I'd be most grateful. Usually it either means 'put something down', or 'put [eg the top part] at the bottom'. This is a roundabout way of saying that I'm not confident about this translation, and though I've had problems before, it's the first time I've come out with a result I find so unsatisfying. The first two lines are straightforward enough to understand, even if there's no obvious translation for 'koge-kiwamareru'. There's the passive form of the literary 'kiwamu' here, meaning the same as 'kiwameru', 'to do something to an extreme', so that the meaning is 'burnt to an extreme'. The last two lines also seem straightforward enough, with the 'umi' pronunciation for 'lake' presumably poetically licensed.

The problem is that these two parts of the poem seem to be self-sufficient, so I can't see the purpose of the middle section (perhaps clear from my translation attempt). The only interpretation I can manage is that the burnt sky should be put into the lake to cool off, and I think it must be something along those lines, but I also think there's a key part of the meaning I'm missing. Unfortunately, I can't find any commentary on this poem on the net, though it does appear many times in Japanese, so it must be popular.

Alternate searches:

'yuyakezora' 'yuuyake-zora' 'yuuyakezora' 'kogekiwamareru' 'koran to suru'