TO NIGHT – Percy Shelley
Biographical information:
Poem written in 1821 –1 year before death
He was depressed and tired of fighting against social norms
He was radical, dissident, politically progressive, promotes ideas like vegetarianism,
sexual freedom.
NIGHT is a time away from social norm•
[Night –mistress/ Day –wife]
Meaning/Message:
Lyrical poem -expresses emotions from a personal viewpoint.
Longing for night
Imagery/ Figures of speech/ Diction:
Apostrophe and extended personification ( day, death, sleep and night)
Structure:
Regular structure –5 stanzas, 7 lines + set rhyme scheme
REGULARITY SHOWS LONG, SLOW PROGRESSION OF DAY WHILE WAITING
FOR NIGHT ‘lingering of unloved guest’
Dash –dramatic pauses introducing emotive passionate declarations and assertions
Exclamation Marks –extreme passion and longing
Tone/mood:
Yearning, desperate, melancholic
ROMANTICS: BELIEVE IN OVERFLOW OF POWERFUL EMOTIONS AND
THOUGHTS
, ‘To Night’ Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-
1822)
Title: Apostrophises/ addresses night directly.
The entire poem is him pleading for the night to arrive. The night is the only time of joy that
he has.
Stanza 1
Swiftly walk over the western wave,
Night is being personified.
He is asking night to spread itself across the western sky (sunset).
The alliteration of the soft ‘w’ sound creates a calming, soothing atmosphere and slows
down the rhythm of the line.
Spirit of Night!
Night has come.
Alliteration of the hard ‘t’ sound emphasises the intensity with which he desires night.
‘!’- emphasising his yearning for the night/his excitement.
Out of the misty eastern cave,
Misty – gloomy/mysterious/eerie
Eastern- Day
Cave – hiding/ avoidance
Night hides in a dark cave, manufacturing/weaving dreams of joy and fear for humans.
Where, all the long and lone daylight,
Long ‘l’ sound – long day (length of time)
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,
While in the cave – night weaves dreams for humans when they go to sleep at night.
Which make thee terrible and dear,—
Sweet dreams which humans see makes the night dear to them but the frightening
dreams/nightmares make the night terrible.
‘-“ dramatic pause, his absolute excitement.
Swift be thy flight!
Yearning/pleading – come as fast as you can
‘!’ – emphasises his joy/ excitement/ desire for the night
Stanza sum up
He is longing/yearning/ begging for the night to come as quickly as possible.
Humans either are in love with the night or are afraid of it. The speaker has no fear at night
and wants it to come swiftly/quickly.
Biographical information:
Poem written in 1821 –1 year before death
He was depressed and tired of fighting against social norms
He was radical, dissident, politically progressive, promotes ideas like vegetarianism,
sexual freedom.
NIGHT is a time away from social norm•
[Night –mistress/ Day –wife]
Meaning/Message:
Lyrical poem -expresses emotions from a personal viewpoint.
Longing for night
Imagery/ Figures of speech/ Diction:
Apostrophe and extended personification ( day, death, sleep and night)
Structure:
Regular structure –5 stanzas, 7 lines + set rhyme scheme
REGULARITY SHOWS LONG, SLOW PROGRESSION OF DAY WHILE WAITING
FOR NIGHT ‘lingering of unloved guest’
Dash –dramatic pauses introducing emotive passionate declarations and assertions
Exclamation Marks –extreme passion and longing
Tone/mood:
Yearning, desperate, melancholic
ROMANTICS: BELIEVE IN OVERFLOW OF POWERFUL EMOTIONS AND
THOUGHTS
, ‘To Night’ Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-
1822)
Title: Apostrophises/ addresses night directly.
The entire poem is him pleading for the night to arrive. The night is the only time of joy that
he has.
Stanza 1
Swiftly walk over the western wave,
Night is being personified.
He is asking night to spread itself across the western sky (sunset).
The alliteration of the soft ‘w’ sound creates a calming, soothing atmosphere and slows
down the rhythm of the line.
Spirit of Night!
Night has come.
Alliteration of the hard ‘t’ sound emphasises the intensity with which he desires night.
‘!’- emphasising his yearning for the night/his excitement.
Out of the misty eastern cave,
Misty – gloomy/mysterious/eerie
Eastern- Day
Cave – hiding/ avoidance
Night hides in a dark cave, manufacturing/weaving dreams of joy and fear for humans.
Where, all the long and lone daylight,
Long ‘l’ sound – long day (length of time)
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,
While in the cave – night weaves dreams for humans when they go to sleep at night.
Which make thee terrible and dear,—
Sweet dreams which humans see makes the night dear to them but the frightening
dreams/nightmares make the night terrible.
‘-“ dramatic pause, his absolute excitement.
Swift be thy flight!
Yearning/pleading – come as fast as you can
‘!’ – emphasises his joy/ excitement/ desire for the night
Stanza sum up
He is longing/yearning/ begging for the night to come as quickly as possible.
Humans either are in love with the night or are afraid of it. The speaker has no fear at night
and wants it to come swiftly/quickly.
