To Night by Percy Bysshe Shelley (Poem, Summary & Analysis)

 

To Night

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

(Poem, Summary & Analysis) 

 

Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place, Broadridge Heath, near Horsham, West Sussex, England. He was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley and his wife, Elizabeth Pilfold. He had four younger sisters and one much younger brother. Shelley’s early childhood was sheltered and mostly happy. He was particularly close to his sisters and his mother, who encouraged him to hunt, fish and ride. At age six, he was sent to a day school run by the vicar of Warnham church, where he displayed an impressive memory and gift for languages.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets. He was a superb craftsman, a lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem. Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets including Browning, Swinburne, Hardy and Yeats.

Shelley also wrote prose fiction and a quantity of essays on political, social, and philosophical issues. From the 1820s, his poems and political and ethical writings became popular in Owenist, Chartist, and radical political circles and later drew admirers as diverse as Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, and George Bernard Shaw.

‘To Night’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley is full of passion. It expresses Shelley’s intense desire for Night, which he has personified. Not only has Night been personified and made to live before us, but Day, Sleep, and Death are also treated in the same manner. Furthermore, relationships have been established between Night, Sleep and Death.

To the Night

(The Poem)

Swiftly walk o’er the western wave,

Spirit of Night!

Out of the misty eastern cave.

Where, all the long and lone daylight,

Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,

Which make thee terrible and dear, -

Swift be thy flight !

 

Wrap thy form in a mantle gray,

Star inwrought !

Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day;

Kiss her until she be wearied out,

Then wander o’er city, and sea, and land

Touching all with thine opiate wand –

Come, long sought!

 

When I arose and saw the dawn.

I sighed for thee;

When light rode high, and dew was gone,

And noon lay heavy on flower and tree,

And the weary Day turned to his rest,

Lingering like an unloved guest,

I sighed for thee.

 

Thy brother Death came, and cried,

Wouldst thou me?

Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,

Murmured like a noontide bee,

Shall I nestle near thy side?

Wouldst thou me? – And I replied,

No, not thee!

 

Death will come when thou art dead,

Soon, too soon –

Sleep will come when thou art fled;

Of neither would I ask the boon

I ask of thee, beloved Night –

Swift be thine approaching flight,

Come soon, soon!

Summary

Shelley calls on night to come quickly: "Swiftly walk o'er the western wave, / Spirit of Night." All day long he has waited for night; day has lingered like an unwanted guest. Neither death nor sleep will serve as a substitute. Death will come too soon in any case and sleep will come when night is over. Neither can give what night can give.

Analysis

The poet makes an appeal to Night which seems to the poet to be a living being. Shelly has created a myth here. He appeals to Night to spread itself over the western sky where the sun sets. He imagines that Night spends the hours of daylight in some misty eastern cave. It keeps weaving dreams of joy and fear for human beings. Sweet dreams, make Night dear to them; but the frightening dreams, make Night terrible to them. Thus, human beings are in love with Night and yet, at the same time, they are afraid of Night. The poet is in love with Night without being afraid of it. He wants Night to come swiftly and without delay.

The poet asks Night to wrap itself in a gray-colored cloak which has stars woven in its texture. Day is also personified in the poem. The poet asks Night to spread its black hair over the eyes of Day. Then the poet says, let Day be kissed so vehemently and repeatedly, that Day feels tired of these kisses and flees from the world.

Night carries magic staffs in its hand, which has the power of sending everyone, who is touched with it, to sleep. When Night comes, all creatures fall asleep. When Day was tired of its stay on the earth, it felt like resting.

The poet is interested neither in Death nor in Sleep. He looks upon Death as the brother of Night, and he calls Sleep a child of Night. Death is also the brother of Night because Night stands for darkness, and Death takes human beings into the dark region. Sleep is the child of Night because it is during night that human beings are overcome by Sleep. Both Death and Sleep offer to come to him. Death is prepared to take him away from this world in case he is sick of life. Sleep, which makes the eyelids close, speaks to the poet every sweetly and softly like the murmuring of a bee at noon-time. Sleep offers to creep close to the poet and to send him into a state of temporary forgetfulness. But the poet rejects both these offers, because he is attracted only by Night.

Death would come in its own time. It would not take long in coming to the poet. The poet does not accept the offer of Sleep, because Sleep can come to him when Night is gone. He would not like to waste his time in sleeping. He can sleep permanently after death.

Analysis

In this poem Shelly expresses his deep love of Night. Night is personified here. Night is conscious of its own existence and of the existence of others. Night has a fascination for the poet, but the poet is attracted neither by dawn nor by day. Neither sleep nor death has any charm for the poet. He expresses his love for Night: “Swift be thy fight!” “Come, long-sought!” “Come soon, soon.”

There are a number of Nature-pictures in the poem. Night is living in some lonely and misty eastern cave where, throughout the day, she weaves dreams of joy and fear for human beings. Night blinds the eyes of Day with her dark hair and kisses Day till Day is exhausted and retires from the scene. The idea of Day giving place to Night has been conveyed to us through a beautiful picture: Wrap thy form in a mantle gray, Star-inwrought! Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day; Kiss her until she be wearied out.”

Night wanders over city, sea and land, and produces a sleepy effect upon all living beings. The sun rides high and the dew vanishes, flowers and trees are oppressed by the heavy weight of noon. The weary Day is depicted as lingering like an unloved guest.

There is a note of desire, lyrical quality, and an atmosphere of melancholy in the poem. The poet says that he is sighing for Night, and he appeals Night to come soon.

The poem is remarkable for the simplicity of its language and ideas. There is nothing abstract or obscure, either about language or about the theme.

This poem expresses the poet’s intense love of Night and contains an invitation to her to come soon. Night has been personified. The poem is a sort of address of welcome to Night.