Good Night! Which Put the Candle Out?
Good Night! Which Put the Candle Out? - meaning Summary
Small Act, Large Consequence
The poem frames a simple goodnight and the extinguishing of a candle as an act with wider, imagined consequences. Dickinson gives the small gesture moral and cosmic weight: a jealous breeze or angelic labor puts out the wick, and the light might have aided a sailor or a drummer. It reflects on how ordinary, private actions can inadvertently affect others and on the mix of tenderness, regret, and imagined responsibility that follows.
Read Complete AnalysesGood night! which put the candle out? A jealous zephyr, not a doubt. Ah! friend, you little knew How long at that celestial wick The angels labored diligent; Extinguished, now, for you! It might have been the lighthouse spark Some sailor, rowing in the dark, Had importuned to see! It might have been the waning lamp That lit the drummer from the camp To purer reveille!
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