The+Sound+of+Night

=The Sound of Night = =By: Maxine Kumin (b. 1925) =

And now the dark comes on, all full of chitter noise. Birds huggermugger crowd the trees, the air thick with their vesper cries, and bats, snub seven-pointed kites, skitter across the lake, swing out, squeak, chirp, dip, and skim on skates of air, and the fat frogs wake and prink wide-lipped, noisy as ducks, drunk on the boozy black, gloating chink-chunk.

And now on the narrow beach we defend ourselves from dark. The cooking done, we build our firework bright and hot and less for outlook than for magic, and lie in our blankets while night nickers around us. Crickets <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">chorus hallelujahs; paws, quiet <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and quick as raindrops, play on the stones <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">expertly soft, run past and are gone; <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">fish pulse in the lake; the frogs hoarsen.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Now every voice of the hour--the known, the supposed, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> the strange, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">the mindless, the witted, the never seen-- <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">sing, thrum, impinge, and rearrange <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">endlessly; and debarred from sleep we wait <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">for the birds, importantly silent, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">for the crease of first eye-licking light, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">for the sun, lost long ago and sweet. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By the lake, locked black away and tight, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">we lie, day creatures, overhearing night. ==


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Maxine W. Kumin Biography **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Born June 6, 1925 in Philadelphia, PA
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Died February 6, 2014 in Warner, NH
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, United States Poet Laureate, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, Poet's Prize, and Robert Frost Medal
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Career spanned over 50 years
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Taught at MIT, Princeton, and Columbia


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Historical Context of "The Sound of Night" **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Referred to as a regional pastoral poet, a transcendentalist, and a confessional poet
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Cared dearly for farmhouse in rural New Hampshire
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Very passionate about nature and her life on the farm
 * //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“Practically all of [my poems] have come out of this geography and this state of mind.” //

=**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Analysis **=

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 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Theme **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Humans are scared of the unknown in the dark of night
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Afraid of noises and creatures
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"//And now on the narrow beach we defend ourselves from dark.//" (10)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Imagery **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mostly auditory imagery
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"//all full of chitter noise//" (1)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"//the air thick with their vesper cries//" (3)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Visual
 * "<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//the fat frogs wake and prink wide-lipped//" (8-9)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Organic
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//"we build our firework bright and hot//" (11-12)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Meter **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Free form poem
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">No rhyme scheme
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">No meter
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">No rhythm
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Structure
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Three stanzas with nine lines each
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Organic poetry emphasizes free spirit of humans in nature
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Emotion **

> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//AP Literature//. Blogspot. 3/15/2017. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"><http://aplitks.blogspot.com/2008/03/sound-and-sense-251-sound-of-night.html> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//The Sound of Night//. ENotes. 3/15/2017. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"><https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-tone-this-poem-372526>
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Tone **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Fearful tone
 * "//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">lie in our blankets while night nickers around us //" (13-14)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Anxious tone
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"//debarred from sleep we wait//" (23)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mood **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mysterious mood
 * "<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Now every voice of the hour--the known, the supposed, the strange, the mindless, the witted, the never seen//" (20-22)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Diction
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Displays fear of the speaker
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"//cries//," "//squeaks//," "//noises//"
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Harsh terms
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mood and tone cause audience to feel fear towards the night
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Figurative Language **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Onomatopoeia
 * "<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//chink-chunk//" (9)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"//squeak, chirp, dip, and skim on skates// //of air//" (7-8)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Personification
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"//eye-licking light//" (25)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Alliteration
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"noisy as ducks, drunk on the boozy black" (8-9)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Add to the fearful tone to immerse readers in mysterious mood
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Works Cited **