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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker welcomes the coming of night and death with urgency.
In plain terms
Death and sleep will come soon, so please hurry.
What can you take from it?
Some seek death or sleep as a relief from life.

Where it applies

  • enduring pain
  • seeking rest
  • reflecting on mortality

Putting it to work

  • coping with grief
  • existential writing

Questions to consider

  • What brings you peace at night?
  • Do you fear death or seek it?

Another view

The tone suggests despair which may not reflect the author's full stance.

More from Percy Bysshe Shelley

  1. Swiftly walk over the western wave, Spirit of Night! Out of the misty eastern cave Where, all the long and lone daylight, Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear, W…

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  2. There is no sport in hate where all the rage Is on one side.

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  3. The desire of the moth for the star, Of the night for the morrow, The devotion to something afar From the sphere of our sorrow.

    Permalink to quote #44

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