19 pages • 38 minutes read
Linda PastanThe Coming on of Night
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Worldly Pursuits Versus Domesticity
The first line of “The Coming on of Night” begins with a domestic image of a “faulty / pilot light” (Lines 1-2). This line roots the speaker in an everyday, quotidian scene with its quotidian concerns. She compares life going out to something familiar, a “pilot light” (Line 2) sputtering. This image is not distinctly feminine, but at the time of the writing of this poem, prevailing attitudes would suggest that a pilot light and anything related to a stove were the province of women. The speaker compares the sputtering pilot light to “ambition” (Line 1), and she calls it “faulty” (Line 1) at that, subtly suggesting that ambition itself may be at least undependable. When the ambition goes out, it takes with it the “spark of hunger” (Line 4) as well. Pastan calls this an “abstract / spark of hunger” (Lines 3, 44), which diminishes the importance of hunger. It is “abstract” (Line 3) rather than rooted in something definite and real, implying that those with hunger may be building their lives on intangible and unreliable goals, living unexamined lives. Since the poem uses the all-encompassing pronoun “we” (Line 9), the speaker presumably includes themselves in this category.
Pastan separates out the people “whose fiery / eccentricities [seem] / inextinguishable” (Lines 5-7). They have more ambition and power, but even those people find their passions fade. Although anyone can have ambition in any aspect of life, it connotes an ambition to succeed in the world outside, in business, finance, or notoriety. Curiously, the speaker refers to these as “fiery / eccentricities” (Lines 5-6) This suggests that the ability to stand out from the crowd is not the norm. It is a subtle way of critiquing those who have these “eccentricities” (Line 6) and critiquing the notion that people need to be in competition with one another, perhaps critiquing the whole notion of having ambition at all.
Notably, the long sentence of the poem casts its human subjects as passive. The pilot light “goes out” (Line 3). Light fades or is “snuffed out” (Line 8). We “are left” (Line 9). There is no human subject actively taking control of their life, but rather passively having their life taken from them. This suggests that human beings are not really in control of their lives, not in control of whatever causes the “abstract / spark of hunger” (Lines 3-4) or what causes it to go out. At no point is this lack of control made more obvious than in the transition from middle age to older age.
Ultimately the final task of all people is to “feel our way / out of the world” (Lines 15-16). Seen through this lens it makes the concept of outward ambition—ambition to affect the world and win honor and glory—somewhat ironic. It suggests that these goals are misguided. It also calls into question where they come from. Certainly, they do not seem to come from people who are living lives of self-reflection and active contemplation.
The Examined Life
The speaker in “The Coming on of Night” suggests that when worldly things are over when they have “snuffed out” (Line 8) or “faded into / darkness” (Lines 7-8), people can feel peace. In fact, the linguistic set-up of the first sentence of the poem suggests that we the readers and the “we” (Line 9) of the poem are really just waiting for the first part of life to come to an end. The first three stanzas are made up of introductory clauses, which prolong the beginning of the sentence’s main subject-verb statement. This suggests the first parts of the sentence, which deal with early life, are merely introductions to the really important part of life, the peace of older age.
During old age, a person can listen to “evensong” (Line 10). This is a distinctly positive, perhaps even romanticized way of characterizing older age. It suggests a moment when “we” (Line 9) can relax, exit the house, and listen to birds. No longer concerned with domestic or worldly tasks, people can instead be treated to the songs of birds, which connotes the beauty of nature with all of its mystery and fecundity of expression. It is a time when people can reflect on the passage of time and “our” (Line 15) place in the flow of time. Appropriately listening to birds, as suggested by the term “evensong” (Line 10), is also passive, albeit pleasantly passive. Nobody has an illusion that they are in control of how the evening plays out or how the evening birds sing. In this way, it is the first time in the poem where people are in alignment with nature and honest about their inability to control it.
With “evensong” (Line 10), it is now a special time, a “time to feel our way / out of the world.” (Lines 15-16). This suggests that the process of dying is active, not passive. Whereas the subjects of this poem were initially governed by an “abstract / spark of hunger” (Lines 3-4) that has been “snuffed out” (Line 8), the subjects of the poem must now take on a more active role in the last sentence. They are responsible for feeling their “way” (Line 15) forward. The speaker of the poem is suggesting that in later life people become more conscious of themselves, their place in the flow of time, and the importance of the next step in their life. Pastan characterizes middle/later life as a time of overcoming the distractions of the rest of the world to come into awareness of interior life and our real place in the flow of time.
The Passage of Time
The last stanza is characterized by sudden realizations. The speaker says,
These lines suggest that the transformation of time is not exactly clear. It is as though the speaker is still themselves in the “midst” (Line 11) of afternoon. “Midst” (Line 11) suggests the middle of something, perhaps the middle of the day, but also metaphorically the middle of life. While those transitioning into older age are moving forward, they still feel that they are only in the middle of life. This suggests that while they are transitioning to old age they are still in the middle of a world that is made up of other people in various stages of life. They may be aging, but they do so in the “midst” (Line 11) of a world that is going to go on without them, a world that is always in the middle so to speak, because the rest of the world continues to unfold regardless of those who are beginning or coming to an end. When the speaker says that “yesterday / was simply afternoon” (Lines 12-13), they seem surprised by the suddenness of the transition. “[Y]esterday” (Line 12) was nothing special. It was “simply” (Line 13) the middle. It was easy to overlook it as being ordinary. It was easy to take it for granted. But now time has changed, as signified by the line “All the clocks are changed now” (Line 14).
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By Linda Pastan
