Poetry for Students

Volume 19 285

are more than one—are too quick for him. They

race around the corner, go out of the kitchen, and

climb up a tree. The poet knows where they have

gone because he hears a scratching sound.

Stanza 2

The poet stands at the foot of the tree. Two

young raccoons perch on two dead limbs of the tree

and peer down at him from both sides of the trunk.

The poet rages and shouts at them for waking him

up at night and for making a mess of the kitchen.

Stanza 3

The poet remains standing under the tree but

now he is silent. He feels the chill of the night air

on his bare flesh. The sensation on his skin seems

to wake him up and make him aware of the sensa-

tions of the moment that are brought to him by the

night. He is aware of his bare foot and the shape it

is forming in the gravel as he stands. He is aware

of himself with the stick in his hand. It is a mo-

ment of awareness that seems to freeze time.

Stanza 4

The poet observes the night. He notices long

streaks of cloud that give way to “milky thin” moon-

light. He notices the silhouette of the back of the

branch of a black pine tree. The moon is full. Up in

the hillside, the pine trees are all whispering (pre-

sumably as the breeze blows), and the crickets are

still singing. But, their song is heard only faintly,

from their “cold coves” somewhere in the dark.

Stanza 5

The poet turns and walks slowly back down

the path, heading back for bed. He feels chilly and

gets goosebumps and his hair blows in the breeze.

Then, he repeats his observation of the previous

strophe, about the moonlight glow that emanates

from around the streaky clouds, and the rustling

sound from the pine trees. At that moment, he feels

almost ready to dissolve into the night. In a simile,

he compares himself to a dandelion head that is

about to spread its seeds on the wind. Another sim-

ile follows, as he compares himself to a sea

anemone that is open and waving in cool water.

Stanza 6

The poet thinks of his own life. He is fifty years

old. The next lines are ambiguous. If the lines are

read literally, they reveal the poet to be an artisan

who works with his hands. The adverb “still” may

suggest a tone of regret, that even though he is mid-

dle-aged, this is still his occupation. On the other

hand, the lines might be interpreted metaphorically.

They would then suggest that the poet is a man who

works in practical ways in the day-to-day material

world, doing what is necessary, rather than being

someone who can get carried away by the mysti-

cal sense of the presence of the night.

Stanza 7

Here, the poet remembers his sleeping family,

including his children at the “shadow pool.” This

phrase may suggest a place where the shadows of

the night comes together (pool), or it might even be

a reference to a swimming pool, although that seems

unlikely. The poet also remembers his lover, with

whom he has lived for many years. The poet fol-

lows this with the phrase “True night,” which is part

of the previous sentence. The fact that it is given a

line all to itself shows its significance. Although the

syntax is a little puzzling, it is likely that the poet

is emphasizing that sleeping during the night, rather

than staying awake and immersing oneself in the

night’s mysterious presence, is the better way for

humans to live. This is confirmed by the last two

lines of the strophe, which state that it is not advis-

able to stay awake too long in the night.

Stanzas 8–9

This stanza explains more of what was

obliquely suggested in the previous stanza. The

night now seems less attractive. The poet’s feet are

“dusty” and his hair is tangled (in contrast to the

“loose waving hair” of stanza five). He goes back

to bed, knowing that he still needs more sleep. He

needs to be fresh for when the new day dawns. By

placing the last line in its own stanza (stanza 9), he

invests it with a special significance.

Themes

Shifts of Consciousness

The poem depicts a mental process that in-

volves profound shifts in the poet’s consciousness.

Although the poet tells a story about an outer

event—how his sleep was disturbed by raccoons in

the kitchen—he also simultaneously describes the

inner workings of his own mind. When the poem

begins, he is asleep and possibly dreaming (he refers

to sleep and the bed itself as a “dream womb”),

which means that he either has no conscious aware-

ness (sleep), or an illusory one (dreams).

When he is first awakened by the sounds of

the disturbance in the kitchen, he becomes angry.

True Night

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