To Night by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The speaker longs for Night throughout the day and urges it to veil Day and touch city, sea, and land with its opiate wand. Rejecting offers from personified Death and Sleep, the speaker continues to call for Night to come swiftly.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Personification · 338 words
First lines
1.
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!
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Five rhymed stanzas express the speaker's longing for Night through repeated appeals for its arrival.
- Personification — Night weaves dreams and carries a wand, while Death and Sleep speak and offer themselves to the speaker.
Tags
night · sleep · dreams · death · longing · personification
What this Textopian page supports
To Night is listed on Textopian as a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Personification
- Length: 338 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for To Night by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph