Night

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1789

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Sleep and Death as Levelers

European thinkers have long associated sleep with death because of the two states’ shared qualities. Both states detach the subject from the living, waking world, for instance. The necessity of both sleep and death—and particularly how they come to people of all classes—means that they often act as common denominators between all humans. Kings and commoners both need to sleep, and neither can escape death.

Blake’s poem draws on this European tradition in its depiction of night. The speaker presents sleep and death as parallel states, both able to create “joy without ceasing” (Line 14) through either dreams or an “immortal day” (Line 40). When night comes, the speaker says “[f]arewell” (Line 9) to the “green fields and happy grove” (Line 9), which suggests they will be separated from the material world for longer than a night’s sleep. The poem’s angels serve as intermediaries for both death and sleep, further emphasizing the connection between the two states. The angels provide joyful dreams and “pour sleep” (Line 23) on the heads of animals otherwise unable to rest. The angels also act as “heedful” (Line 30) guides to the afterlife, and “[r]eceive each mild spirit” (Line 31) as the sheep and lambs die.

This leveling of sleep and death extends to the human and the non-human. The speaker notes that “[t]he birds [. . . ] in their nest” (Line 3) indicates that they “must seek for mine” (Line 4). The speaker’s identification of his “nest” with the bird’s suggests the way sleep and death can level even distinctions between the human and the non-human.

Equality Among Creatures

The leveling of the human and non-human extends beyond the realms of sleep and death in Blake’s “Night.” The speaker’s identification of their “nest” (Line 3) with birds’ nests points toward the poem’s larger theme of equality among all creatures. Throughout the poem, the speaker uses a shared vocabulary and sentence structure to describe a variety of different creatures, suggesting an equivalence between them.

In some cases, such as when the speaker describes how beasts, wolves, and lambs “weep” (Lines 21, 26, 44), the speaker’s use of personification (See: Literary Devices) raises all other animals to the human level. In other cases, such as when the angels “pour blessing / And joy without ceasing / On each bud and blossom” (Lines 13-15), the speaker demonstrates that all creatures—both plant and animal—are treated equally by divine beings. The speaker also uses similar phrases to describe the angels watching over the creatures. “They look in every thoughtless nest” (Line 17) to visit the birds, and “[t]hey visit caves of every beast” (Line 19). The line’s meaning and similar grammatical structures suggest that the angels treat the two categories of animals the same. The angels treat the bird’s “nest” and the beast’s “cave” with the same presence and mission.

The poem’s equality among creatures also extends to its metaphors and word choice. The word “fold” (Line 48) is short for “sheepfold.” It refers to both a pen that holds sheep and a group or congregation of humans. Given the parallels and connections Blake’s speaker makes between the human and the non-human, both definitions hold equal weight. At nearly every stage, Blake’s speaker dissolves the moral and emotional separation between humanity and animals.

The Meek Inheriting the Afterlife

Blake’s “Night” is rife with Christian imagery and suggestions of Christian verse. One of the main verses Blake’s poem engages, states, “the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (King James Bible, Ps. 37.11). This verse manifests in nearly every aspect of Blake’s poem to the point where the poem could be read as a meditation on the verse’s claim. The moon’s “silent delight” (Line 7), for instance, can be interpreted as showing the moon to be the meek—or less notable and “silent”—inheritor of the sun’s domain. Like “each bud and blossom” (Line 15) blessed in the night, the moon is a “flower” (Line 5) that blooms in the night.

Blake’s poem follows many Christian thinkers in interpreting the verse metaphorically. The world that the meek inherit, in this metaphorical sense, is the Christian afterlife. This is what the speaker refers to when stating that the “mild spirit[ed]” (Line 31) lambs have “New worlds to inherit” (Line 32). The lamb inherit their due afterlife after a mild and innocent existence (See: Symbols & Motifs). Given the poem’s conflation of death and sleep, it also suggests that the meek can inherit the world of dreams in a way inaccessible to others. This might be a passing reference to Blake’s own position as a religious visionary. This Christian meekness, regardless, is presented as one of Christ’s great strengths in the poem. Rather than be a passive response, this Christian “meekness” (Line 37) drives away wrath and creates a more peaceful, equitable existence.