Analysis - new york at night

Idea Development – New York at night

A near horizon whose sharp jags

Cut brutally into a sky

Of leaden heaviness, and crags

Of houses lift their masonry

Ugly and foul, and chimneys lie

And snort, outlined against the gray

Of lowhung cloud. I hear the sigh

The goaded city gives, not day

Nor night can ease her heart, her anguished labours

stay.

Below, straight streets, monotonous,

From north and south, from east and west,

Stretch glittering; and luminous

Above, one tower tops the rest

And holds aloft man's constant quest:

Time! Joyless emblem of the greed

Of millions, robber of the best

Which earth can give, the vulgar creed

Has seared upon the night its flaming ruthless screed.

O Night! Whose soothing presence brings

The quiet shining of the stars.

O Night! Whose cloak of darkness clings

So intimately close that scars

Are hid from our own eyes. Beggars

By day, our wealth is having night

To burn our souls before altars

Dim and tree-shadowed, where the light

Is shed from a young moon, mysteriously bright.

Where art thou hiding, where thy peace?

This is the hour, but thou art not.

Will waking tumult never cease?

Hast thou thy votary forgot?

Nature forsakes this man-begot

And festering wilderness, and now

The long still hours are here, no jot

Of dear communing do I know;

Instead the glaring, man-filled city groans below!

Analysis –

I think the poem is set for more of a negative look upon new york. It talks about the skyline being jiggered and harsh. It exclaims that the houses are ugly and harsh and foul. It says how all the streets are the same and boring. It also states that although the skyscrapers are tall and impressive they are also a sign of humanities greed and destruction of the world. Lowell’s point of view for the poem seems to be of a personal experience where she doesn’t enjoy living in such a big city, as it is just vulgar and greedy.