illustrated portrait of English author Emily Brontë

Emily Brontë

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Student Question

What is the theme, style, tone, and poetic devices used in Emily Bronte's "The Night-Wind"?

Quick answer:

"The Night-Wind" by Emily Brontë explores themes of love, time, solitude, and death. The poem features a quiet, seductive style and a tone that shifts from sensual to somber, reflecting loneliness and an acceptance of mortality. Brontë uses poetic devices like imagery and personification, addressing the wind as a confidant. The night setting conveys secrecy and introspection, while the speaker's dialogue with the wind symbolizes her internal longing and eventual surrender to death.

Expert Answers

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This is probably one of my favorite poems by Emily Bronte. She writes so quietly and seductively in this poem. 

The poem starts out with the lines "In summer's mellow midnight, a cloudless moon shone through our open parlour window, and rose trees wet with dew." You can tell from the opening lines, that this poem has an almost secret sensual side to it. The speaker of this poem expresses her sentiments to the wind as looks out into the night. There is a longing inside of her, and she seems to not have many people in her life to talk to, so she tells the wind how she feels. The use of it being night, makes the reader think, that the speaker is trying to hide or conceal her feelings. There is a loneliness to her. There seems to be an underlying tone of sadness and even death, in the later part of the poem. When she speaks the line "when thy heart is laid to rest/ I shall have time to mourn/ and though to be alone will not give into the wind"  shows she will eventually have to give into the wind, when it is time for her to die. She will fight the temptations, but after she dies the wind can blow her where ever it wants. 

The theme of this poem is love, time, solitude  and death. Most of Emily Bronte's works have the same themes. Bronte's most famous work, Wuthering Heights, has a similar feel to it. She writes about how love is almost a spiritual feeling. This poem is beautifully written and speaks directly to the heart of the reader. 

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