"Nights" Analysis

The speaker in the poem "Nights" is a person in his house who is resting one night on his arm. The connotation of the diction seems dark and negative at first, then in the middle stanza, the words are more about change and direction. In the final stanza, the words have to do with rest and direction. An image in this poem is "The stars tonight are rich and cold" (Hart 2). This means that the night is cold but bright because there are so many stars around. "My house that vaguely broods" (Hart 3) is an image of a looming house in the darkness. "My dinner plate is chipped all round" (Hart 5) describes a circular plate that is chipped from adventures and experiences that the speaker underwent. "My glass is cracked all down one side" (Hart 7) paints an image of a glass drinking cup with a long crack running down the side of it. "My hands-I rest my head on them" (Hart 9). This is an image of an exhausted person relaxing and laying his head down on his arms.
In this poem, the speaker identifies that he has changed. He notices this through his chipped plate. He has also acknowledged that there is a path for him; he recognizes this through the glass with the crack down the side. One can notice these changes and paths through simple things like a plate, a glass, or through the "rich and cold" (Hart 2) stars. People can be surprised at what they find when they take the time to look around and acknowledge the little things in life. The speaker says, "There's nothing that I really need Before I set out on that path" (Hart 11-12). He is saying that whatever direction life takes him, he is ready because the ways that he has changed and the experiences he had prepared him to take his next steps.