Longfellow Comparison To Night

In writing, an author may interpret and create stories however he likes. Nothing has to be universal and therefore, individuality and the author’s style is evident in their works. As for Eliezer Wiesel and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the two writers take different approaches on the word “night”. They are prime examples of what it means to have differing perceptions of life and in their respective works, Night and “Hymn to Night” it shines through clearly.
Throughout his autobiography, Wiesel zones in on the evilness and horrors of the night. It is inescapable and all-consuming. As his life in the concentration camps continues, he strays further and further from the light. The night is no longer just from sundown to sunrise, it continues to live in his soul 24 hours a day. Wiesel even states, “Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live” (Wiesel p. 30). He knows that he is trapped by a heavy blanket of nothingness. The night he is living in makes him feel hopeless and ultimately, dead. These kinds of statements create an overall dark and evil tone. The reader is able to feel along with the characters, the wickedness that surrounded the Holocaust. …show more content…
This poem focuses on personifying the night. Instead of a suffocating force, the night is simply a beautiful, beloved, woman. Longfellow creates a character out of the night and, almost places her on a pedestal. She is perfect and holy, the light of his life. Infatuated with her grace and “calm, majestic presence” (Longfellow), the writer employs dramatic use of metaphor and allusions to describe that passion he feels for the night. This technique creates a magical and peaceful tone. Longfellow’s style in “Hymn to Night” is free flowing and, allows for the appreciation of beauty and virtue rather than the disdain for treachery and