The Coming on of Night

The first line of “The Coming on of Night” begins with a domestic image of a “faulty / pilot light” (Lines 1-2). This line roots the speaker in an everyday, quotidian scene with its quotidian concerns. She compares life going out to something familiar, a “pilot light” (Line 2) sputtering. This image is not distinctly feminine, but at the time of the writing of this poem, prevailing attitudes would suggest that a pilot light and anything related to a stove were the province of women. The speaker compares the sputtering pilot light to “ambition” (Line 1), and she calls it “faulty” (Line 1) at that, subtly suggesting that ambition itself may be at least undependable. When the ambition goes out, it takes with it the “spark of hunger” (Line 4) as well. Pastan calls this an “abstract / spark of hunger” (Lines 3, 44), which diminishes the importance of hunger. It is “abstract” (Line 3) rather than rooted in something definite and real, implying that those with hunger may be building their lives on intangible and unreliable goals, living unexamined lives. Since the poem uses the all-encompassing pronoun “we” (Line 9), the speaker presumably includes themselves in this category.

Pastan separates out the people “whose fiery / eccentricities [seem] / inextinguishable” (Lines 5-7).