“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Summary

“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Themes

• 

  Sexual Passion

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• 

  Longing and Absence

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• 

  Religious Fervor

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Wild nights - Wild nights!”

• Line 1

  Wild nights - Wild nights!

  

  

  

  

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• Line 2

  Were I with thee

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  Wild nights should be
  Our luxury!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-6

  Futile - the winds -
  To a Heart in port -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-8

  Done with the Compass -
  Done with the Chart!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  Rowing in Eden -
  Ah - the Sea!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  Might I but moor - tonight -
  In thee!

  

  

  

  

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“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Symbols

• 

  Storms

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• 

  Seafaring

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• 

  The Ocean

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• 

  Eden

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“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Luxury
• Futile
• Port
• Compass
• Chart
• Eden
• Moor

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Wild nights - Wild nights!”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Speaker

“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Wild nights - Wild nights!”

More “Wild nights - Wild nights!” Resources

• External Resources

  • An article by Dickinson's publisher, Thomas Higginson — This 1891 article from the Atlantic is Dickinson's publisher's account of his correspondence with her and the posthumous printing of her poems.

  • A Short Biography of Dickinson — The Poetry Foundation's biography of Dickinson, with links to more of her poems.

  • Dickinson's Manuscript Copy of the Poem — The manuscript for "Wild nights - Wild nights!" in Dickinson's own handwriting.

  • The Emily Dickinson Museum — The official website for the Emily Dickinson museum, with further information on her life and works.

  • Sarah Arvio's Reading of "Wild nights - Wild nights!" — A short piece from the Poetry Society of America on a writer's first experience reading this poem (including opinions on some of the readings discussed in this guide).

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?