A November Night by Sara Teasdale - Poem Analysis (2024)

‘A November Night’ is characteristic of Teasdale’s work in that she uses night, relationships, and a variety of interesting literary devices to depict a character’s emotional and mental state. Her lyric poetry is noted for its skilled use of images and figurative language like metaphors and similes. Both of these are on display in ‘A November Night.’

A November NightSara Teasdale
There! See the line of lights,A chain of stars down either side the street --Why can't you lift the chain and give it to me,A necklace for my throat? I'd twist it roundAnd you could play with it. You smile at meAs though I were a little dreamy childBehind whose eyes the fairies live. . . . And see,The people on the street look up at usAll envious. We are a king and queen,Our royal carriage is a motor bus,We watch our subjects with a haughty joy. . . .How still you are! Have you been hard at workAnd are you tired to-night? It is so longSince I have seen you -- four whole days, I think.My heart is crowded full of foolish thoughtsLike early flowers in an April meadow,And I must give them to you, all of them,Before they fade. The people I have met,The play I saw, the trivial, shifting thingsThat loom too big or shrink too little, shadowsThat hurry, gesturing along a wall,Haunting or gay -- and yet they all grow realAnd take their proper size here in my heartWhen you have seen them. . . . There's the Plaza now,A lake of light! To-night it almost seemsThat all the lights are gathered in your eyes,Drawn somehow toward you. See the open parkLying below us with a million lampsScattered in wise disorder like the stars.We look down on them as God must look downOn constellations floating under HimTangled in clouds. . . . Come, then, and let us walkSince we have reached the park. It is our garden,All black and blossomless this winter night,But we bring April with us, you and I;We set the whole world on the trail of spring.I think that every path we ever tookHas marked our footprints in mysterious fire,Delicate gold that only fairies see.When they wake up at dawn in hollow tree-trunksAnd come out on the drowsy park, they lookAlong the empty paths and say, "Oh, hereThey went, and here, and here, and here! Come, see,Here is their bench, take hands and let us danceAbout it in a windy ring and makeA circle round it only they can crossWhen they come back again!" . . . Look at the lake --Do you remember how we watched the swansThat night in late October while they slept?Swans must have stately dreams, I think. But nowThe lake bears only thin reflected lightsThat shake a little. How I long to takeOne from the cold black water -- new-made goldTo give you in your hand! And see, and see,There is a star, deep in the lake, a star!Oh, dimmer than a pearl -- if you stoop downYour hand could almost reach it up to me. . . .

There was a new frail yellow moon to-night --I wish you could have had it for a cupWith stars like dew to fill it to the brim. . . .

How cold it is! Even the lights are cold;They have put shawls of fog around them, see!What if the air should grow so dimly whiteThat we would lose our way along the pathsMade new by walls of moving mist recedingThe more we follow. . . . What a silver night!That was our bench the time you said to meThe long new poem -- but how different now,How eerie with the curtain of the fogMaking it strange to all the friendly trees!There is no wind, and yet great curving scrollsCarve themselves, ever changing, in the mist.Walk on a little, let me stand here watchingTo see you, too, grown strange to me and far. . . .I used to wonder how the park would beIf one night we could have it all alone --No lovers with close arm-encircled waistsTo whisper and break in upon our dreams.And now we have it! Every wish comes true!We are alone now in a fleecy world;Even the stars have gone. We two alone!

Summary of A November Night

‘A November Night’ by Sara Teasdale is a long poem filled with beautiful and haunting images a speaker describes from a walk on a November night.

In the first part of ‘A November Night,’ the speaker begins by excitedly commenting on all the lights she can see around her. There are the stars as well as the lights that border the street and come up from the park. These attract her, and she expresses her feeling that they are drawn to her partner’s eyes. Together, they’re walking through the night while she stumbles upon memories and shares her thoughts about everything they have seen.

Themes

Structure and Form

Literary Devices

Teasdale makes use of several literary devices in ‘A November Night.’ These include but are not limited to enjambment, caesura, and imagery. The first of these, enjambment, is a common literary device that occurs when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point. For example, the transition between lines four and five of the first stanza as well as lines thirty and thirty-one of that same stanza.

Caesurae are pauses in the middle of lines, created either through punctuation or a natural pause in the meter. For example, like nine of the first stanza, which reads: “All envious. We are a king and queen.” Another good example is line one of the third stanza. It reads: “How cold it is! Even the lights are cold.”

Analysis of A November Night

Stanza One

Lines 1-14

There! See the line of lights,

A chain of stars down either side the street —

Why can’t you lift the chain and give it to me,

A necklace for my throat? I’d twist it round

And you could play with it. You smile at me

As though I were a little dreamy child

Behind whose eyes the fairies live. . . . And see,

The people on the street look up at us

All envious. We are a king and queen,

Our royal carriage is a motor bus,

We watch our subjects with a haughty joy. . . .

See Also

LitChartsCinquainGlossary of Poetic Terms | Poetry FoundationStanza - Glossary - Poetry Archive

How still you are! Have you been hard at work

And are you tired to-night? It is so long

Since I have seen you — four whole days, I think.

In the first lines of the first stanza, the speaker begins by pointing out the “line of lights” that’s there on either side of the street. She asks her listener, someone whose relationship to the speaker is yet to be revealed, to pick up the lights and make them into a chain necklace. She’d wear it around her through, and they could “play with it.” This is a wonderful example of imagery to start the poem with.

Lines 15- 29

My heart is crowded full of foolish thoughts

Like early flowers in an April meadow,

And I must give them to you, all of them,

Before they fade. The people I have met,

The play I saw, the trivial, shifting things

That loom too big or shrink too little, shadows

That hurry, gesturing along a wall,

Haunting or gay — and yet they all grow real

And take their proper size here in my heart

When you have seen them. . . . There’s the Plaza now,

A lake of light! To-night it almost seems

That all the lights are gathered in your eyes,

Drawn somehow toward you. See the open park

Lying below us with a million lamps

Scattered in wise disorder like the stars.

In the following lines, the speaker makes her lighthearted mood clear as she teases and suggests games of make-believe with this person. Her thoughts are “like early flowers,” she says, and she wants to “give them to you.” Her thoughts feel precious at that moment, and she wants to share this intimate part of herself with her partner before they disappear out of the moment forever. The poet uses a technique known as accumulation in the next lines as she piles on allusions to experiences that are making up her thoughts at this time. The play she saw and the gestures of shadows along the wall.

The darkness of the shadows in these lines is juxtaposed against the light in the “Plaza.” She calls her listener’s attention to it once more and lets her attachment to the light grow as she suggests that all the light is “gathered” in this person’s eyes. It’s drawn towards them, as the speaker is. From where they are, they can look down and see the lights in the park, which the poet uses a simile to compare to “stars.”

Lines 30-47

We look down on them as God must look down

On constellations floating under Him

Tangled in clouds. . . . Come, then, and let us walk

Since we have reached the park. It is our garden,

All black and blossomless this winter night,

See Also

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But we bring April with us, you and I;

We set the whole world on the trail of spring.

I think that every path we ever took

Has marked our footprints in mysterious fire,

Delicate gold that only fairies see.

When they wake up at dawn in hollow tree-trunks

And come out on the drowsy park, they look

Along the empty paths and say, “Oh, here

They went, and here, and here, and here! Come, see,

Here is their bench, take hands and let us dance

About it in a windy ring and make

A circle round it only they can cross

When they come back again!” . . . Look at the lake —

From their slightly elevated position, they can see the stars/lights as the poet’s speaker believes God would. God’s above the stars, looking down at the constellations as they are now. Their walk takes them into the park where it’s “black and blossomless.” This doesn’t matter to the speaker, though, as she knows the two have enough light in between them to be lively as “April.”

Lines 48-57

Do you remember how we watched the swans

That night in late October while they slept?

Swans must have stately dreams, I think. But now

The lake bears only thin reflected lights

That shake a little. How I long to take

One from the cold black water — new-made gold

To give you in your hand! And see, and see,

There is a star, deep in the lake, a star!

Oh, dimmer than a pearl — if you stoop down

Your hand could almost reach it up to me. . . .

Stanza Two

There was a new frail yellow moon to-night —

I wish you could have had it for a cup

With stars like dew to fill it to the brim. . . .

Stanza Three

Lines 1-12

How cold it is! Even the lights are cold;

They have put shawls of fog around them, see!

What if the air should grow so dimly white

That we would lose our way along the paths

Made new by walls of moving mist receding

The more we follow. . . . What a silver night!

That was our bench the time you said to me

The long new poem — but how different now,

How eerie with the curtain of the fog

Making it strange to all the friendly trees!

There is no wind, and yet great curving scrolls

Carve themselves, ever changing, in the mist.

The third stanza is twenty-one lines long. It starts with another exclamation. She notes the cool air that evening and suggests that rather than warm and inviting, the stars are, in fact, “cold.” They’re disappearing. She personifies them, describing them as putting on shawls of fog, obscuring them from the sight of those walking the earth. She wonders what would happen if the whole world became obscured in this same fog. What would happen, she wonders, if new walls popped up of mist.

Lines 13- 21

Walk on a little, let me stand here watching

To see you, too, grown strange to me and far. . . .

I used to wonder how the park would be

If one night we could have it all alone —

No lovers with close arm-encircled waists

To whisper and break in upon our dreams.

And now we have it! Every wish comes true!

We are alone now in a fleecy world;

Even the stars have gone. We two alone!

Similar Poetry

Readers who enjoyed ‘A November Night’ should also consider reading some of Sara Teasdale’s other best-known poems. For example,

• ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ – a beautiful poem in which Teasdale’s speaker describes the lack of impact humanity has on the world. All other living things would not miss humanity if everyone were to suddenly disappear off the planet.
• ‘The Long Hill’ – uses an extended metaphor, that of climbing a hill, to describe one’s journey through life.
• ‘The Answer’ – a lyric poem that’s characteristic of Teasdale’s work. It describes the respect a speaker is hoping to receive from others after her death.