Night Light by Ann Winters
A poetry theme analysis by Savannah Mikle
1 Only your plastic night light dusts its pink
2 on the backs and undersides of things; your mother,
3 head resting on the nightside of one arm,
4 floats a hand above your cradle
5 to feel the humid tendril of your breathing.
6 Outside, the night rocks, murmurs … Crouched
7 in this eggshell light, I feel my heart
8 slowing, opened to your tiny flame
9 as if your blue irises mirrored me
10 as if your smile breathed and warmed
11 and curled in your face which is only asleep.
12 There is space between me, I know,
13 and you. I hang above you like a planet –
14 you’re a planet, too. One planet loves the other.
Theme:
Imagery
"in this eggshell light" (7)
The mother handles the child with gentleness of an "eggshell light" for she knows that the child is fragile
"plastic night light dusts its pink" (1)
The relationship between mother and child is soft and sweet like that of a pink sky
"your blue irises mirrored me" (9)
Explains how the baby's blue eyes are much like the mothers and they are connected
Personification
"your face which is only asleep" (11)
The face itself cannot be asleep, but the child is. Represents that the child is comfortable with the mother and trusts her
"you're a planet" (14)
The planet, in comparison with the human baby, has its own gravity and pulls the mother towards it
"the night rocks, murmurs...crouched" (6)
The night is given human characteristics that soothes the child and puts it to sleep, just as a mother would
Symbol
"tiny flame" (8)
Describing the child as a tiny flame symbolizes that the child is small and warm but has the potential to grow big
"like a planet"(13)
Being a planet, it symbolizes that the mother also as her own gravity which pulls the child to her
"blue irises mirrored me" (9)
The mirrored irises symbolizes that the mother can see herself in the child, almost as if the mother is looking in a mirror and looking at her own eyes