The Poetical Works, Volume II
Edward Young's Night Thoughts, the graveyard poem that swept Europe.
What this poem is
The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, better known simply as Night-Thoughts, is a long poem by the English poet Edward Young, published in nine parts (or "nights") between 1742 and 1745. It was illustrated with notable engravings by William Blake.
The poem records Young's musings on death as he ponders the loss of his wife and friends, and as he laments human frailties. A famous line points out how quickly life and opportunities can slip away. The individual poems in the series are dedicated to several contemporaries of Young, including Arthur Onslow, Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, George Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield, Henry Pelham, and Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle.
The poem is written in blank verse. It describes the poet's musings on death over a series of nine "nights" in which he ponders the loss of his wife and friends, and laments human frailties. The best-known line in the poem (at the end of "Night I") is the adage "procrastination is the thief of time", which is part of a passage in which the poet discusses how quickly life and opportunities can slip away. Night-Thoughts had a very high reputation for many years after its publication, but is now best known for a major series of illustrations by William Blake in 1797. A lesser-known set of illustrations was created by Thomas Stothard in 1799.
The nine nights are each a poem of their own. They are: "Life, Death, and Immortality" (dedicated to Arthur Onslow); "Time, Death, Friendship" (dedicated to Spencer Compton); "Narcissa" (dedicated to Margaret Bentinck); "The Christian Triumph" (dedicated to Philip Yorke); "The Relapse" (dedicated to George Lee); "The Infidel Reclaim'd" (in two parts, "Glories and Riches" and "The Nature, Proof, and Importance of Immortality"; dedicated to Henry Pelham); "Virtue's Apology; or, The Man of the World Answered" (with no dedication); and "The Consolation" (dedicated to Thomas Pelham-Holles).
Adapted from the Wikipedia article “Night-Thoughts” (revision 1332767410), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Laurel's own notes and measurements are not from Wikipedia.
Measured across the book
Across its 9,182 lines, 96% of stressed syllables fall on the beat (95% interval 96% to 96%). Alliteration runs at 1.08 times what shuffling the words would give (0.34 observed against 0.31 expected). 5% of the lines have a feminine ending.
Baselines and intervals are described in the methods.
Contents
About this text
Public domain. Text from The Poetical Works of Edward Young, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #18827. Free to read, print, copy and reuse.