The Night Came Slowly

Throughout this short piece, Chopin emphasizes the gentleness of nature, especially the night, in contrast to the noise and bluster of human beings—in particular, men. Compared with the delicate touch of nature, man is “bold” and “coarse” (Paragraph 6). While the ugliness of man causes the narrator to suffer, the gentleness has a powerful allure.

All aspects of nature in this piece exhibit grace and a certain carefulness in their interactions with the narrator and with the rest of the natural world. This gentleness, often portrayed through personification, contrasts sharply with any descriptions of humans. For example, the wind is “caressing” (Paragraph 1). It “rippled the maple leaves like little warm love thrills” (Paragraph 5). The night, as the title emphasizes, comes “slowly, softly” (Paragraph 2). It comes “creeping, creeping stealthily” (Paragraph 2). As the darkness blurs the trees together, the night comes “stealing out from them, too” (Paragraph 2). The katydids sing a “slumber song” (Paragraph 5). In contrast, books and men alike make the narrator suffer. People “chatter” (Paragraph 5). And the Bible teacher, representative of the “fools [who] cumber the Earth,” has “coarse manner and speech” (Paragraph 6).