And tell the embosom'd grief, however vain...

Samar Nattagh

To sullen surges and the viewless wind.
Though no repose on thy dark breast I find,
I still enjoy thee-cheerless as thou art;
For in thy quiet gloom the exhausted heart
Is calm, though wretch; hopeless, yet resign'd.

In Charlotte Smith’s “To Night”, the speaker describes the complex feelings she has towards nighttime. In the night, “the enfeebled mind/ Will to the deaf cold elements complain”. Nighttime, particularly the time right before we fall asleep, is prime self-reflection time and it can be either uplifting or depressing, depending on how the day went. The speaker’s mind complains to the night, though it is “deaf”, “cold”, and does not respond to her complaints. There is a certain eeriness to the night, as she feels the wind but cannot see it. She acknowledges that this complaining is “vain” and says that she finds “no repose on thy dark breast”. But although the night does not respond and offers only coldness, she still likes it. At the very least, the night is constant and its cyclical quality is comforting. Nighttime is the time we feel closest to another world; for the speaker, it is “heaven”. But since night is universally experienced, “heaven” can also symbolize a feeling of intimacy with other human beings, both alive and dead.