Shelley's is another life cut short, at the age of 29. And yet another who was not fully appreciated in his time either. Some say he drowned himself, others that it was an accident in a storm. Either way, it is incredible how much work he managed to put out into the world in such a short time.
I often come to research a poet and find that I have read one of their works before. This time, I find it is Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias', which I rather enjoyed when I came across it at GCSE level. The poem I have chosen, however, has a different focus from that of ancient kingdoms to the very present, written perhaps about one of his two wives, or even many of his female companions, with whom he often had platonic relations.
Good Night
Good-night? ah! no; the hour is ill
Which severs those it should unite;
Let us remain together still,
Then it will be good night.
How can I call the lone night good,
Though thy sweet wishes wing its flight?
Be it not said, thought, understood --
Then it will be -- good night.
To hearts which near each other move
From evening close to morning light,
The night is good; because, my love,
They never say good-night.
This poem revolves around a rather solemn pun; that the 'good' in 'good-night' might be an elliptical phrase, wishing someone well on departure, but can be received by that someone bitterly due to the very fact of the departure.
The poem begins as if a mental musing after being wished a 'good-night'. The narrator questions himself as to how the speaker could have truly wished this if they loved him as equally as he loves them. For surely, he thinks, they would have stayed 'unite[d]' in order for all to be happy and good.
The questioning continues in the second stanza, with less violent and angry a temperament as in the first ('severs'). He admits that his lover's use of the 'good night' phrase is a 'sweet' one, as if to calm himself in an afterthought through right branching. He follows his question with an imperative prayer, augmented from the hortatory 'let us', to relay his increasing passion on the subject. The repetition of 'be' emphasises his focus on the state of separate existence of the two lovers, of what is and is not.
He then focuses on the distance itself, with the spatial adjectives 'near' and 'close' juxtaposed line by line. The hypallage of the the latter depicts the evening as a time to be spent intimately with a companion, meaning that separation should occur rather in the day, when 'light' comes. The rhyme with 'light' and 'night' following shortly links the two part of the day, however, suggesting that he wishes the night to be spent as they do the days. It almost appears paradoxical, then, that when the night is good, good-night is 'never' said. But perhaps the implication is that words are not needed when the physical will suffice during the night time.
I often come to research a poet and find that I have read one of their works before. This time, I find it is Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias', which I rather enjoyed when I came across it at GCSE level. The poem I have chosen, however, has a different focus from that of ancient kingdoms to the very present, written perhaps about one of his two wives, or even many of his female companions, with whom he often had platonic relations.
Good Night
Good-night? ah! no; the hour is ill
Which severs those it should unite;
Let us remain together still,
Then it will be good night.
How can I call the lone night good,
Though thy sweet wishes wing its flight?
Be it not said, thought, understood --
Then it will be -- good night.
To hearts which near each other move
From evening close to morning light,
The night is good; because, my love,
They never say good-night.
This poem revolves around a rather solemn pun; that the 'good' in 'good-night' might be an elliptical phrase, wishing someone well on departure, but can be received by that someone bitterly due to the very fact of the departure.
The poem begins as if a mental musing after being wished a 'good-night'. The narrator questions himself as to how the speaker could have truly wished this if they loved him as equally as he loves them. For surely, he thinks, they would have stayed 'unite[d]' in order for all to be happy and good.
The questioning continues in the second stanza, with less violent and angry a temperament as in the first ('severs'). He admits that his lover's use of the 'good night' phrase is a 'sweet' one, as if to calm himself in an afterthought through right branching. He follows his question with an imperative prayer, augmented from the hortatory 'let us', to relay his increasing passion on the subject. The repetition of 'be' emphasises his focus on the state of separate existence of the two lovers, of what is and is not.
He then focuses on the distance itself, with the spatial adjectives 'near' and 'close' juxtaposed line by line. The hypallage of the the latter depicts the evening as a time to be spent intimately with a companion, meaning that separation should occur rather in the day, when 'light' comes. The rhyme with 'light' and 'night' following shortly links the two part of the day, however, suggesting that he wishes the night to be spent as they do the days. It almost appears paradoxical, then, that when the night is good, good-night is 'never' said. But perhaps the implication is that words are not needed when the physical will suffice during the night time.
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