A theme may be described as a universal idea that underlies a text. While there is just one subject matter, themes are numerous as they are derived from the insinuations the text bears in relation to what obtains in the world outside the text which inspired the whole idea. The following themes, among others, are significantly apparent in Wole Soyinka’s “Night”.
Rest and time cycle
The theme of rest and time cycle is evident in the cultural background of the poem. For one, there are three periods of the day: morning, afternoon, and night. For the other, there are three phases of human life: morning (childhood/teen), noon (youth/middle age), and night (old age/death). These two idealisms combine to form a unified position in the exploration of the poet’s apprehension. Night is generally supposed to be a period of rest from the day’s labour; but we see here the restiveness that overwhelms the poet-persona as a result of analysing some social situation.
Furthermore, the depth of feeling that runs through the poem points to the irony of death. Within the same culture, death is supposed to occur at old age; however, the poet persona has witnessed the tragedy of night: “Night, you rained//Serrated shadows through dank leaves” (stanza 3, line 3 – 4, line 1). This suggests that rest can be a time of painful reflections of things left unaccomplished! In other words, the night that he now approaches is one redolent of waste, impediment and bitter recollections. Still, such is the cycle of existence where we are all in constant struggle against the unforeseen realities of night because we live in a world overrun by forces of evil and wicked operations.
Ambition and its tragic end
One of the unstated but deducible messages of the poem is that we are driven by ambition. Within the context of its cultural background, the poem supposes that the poet persona is meditating on the nature of his present stage of life as one when ambition is still blazing. It is what gives our life meaning. In Nigerian society, the average youth brims with hope even against the odds of policy and the failure of governmental security; they are a class of tireless adventurists steered by hope, dreams and ambition.
We can therefore underpin that the enlivened atmosphere of stubborn hope amid the facts and factors of existential struggles spurs the poet persona to critique their helplessness in the hands of a night experience. Unfortunate events like sickness, war, famine, hazards, disasters, fatal accidents visit a sudden end upon human pursuits. They never give signs! They are subsidiary forces of evil that may turn the broad day to night in the twinkling of an eye.
Furthermore, savagery suffered from human depravity can also bring night upon one’s dreams. Our ambitions are therefore subject to fate! This is the mysticism in which the subject matter is encased as a criticism of death.
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