Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines

The poem takes place at night, the time of day thematically associated with loneliness. People leave public places and go home, or they spend time with loved ones. A person who has a loved one might find this time of day romantic, but a person who is alone feels their loneliness magnified. The speaker of the poem notes that nature itself feels distant. The stars are “blue and shiver in the distance” (Line 2). The speaker hears laughter, but that is also far off in the distance. The night feels “endless” (Line 8), powerful in its immensity.

The speaker notes that this is the “same night whitening the same trees” (Line 20) that they and their lover used to enjoy together. The colors of night in this poem are white and blue. Blue typically denotes sadness and cold. The fact that night “whitens” the trees most likely indicates that moonlight is falling on them. However, the choice of the word “whitening” instead of “lighting” indicates the trees are losing color rather than gaining light. It suggests a light that makes the trees less rich, more vacant of the color that indicates life. The night itself becomes an emblem of loneliness and absence, an unyielding force of nature that is unaware of the changes in humans’ lives.