Poetrybounding: How Should You Dress Based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Hymn to the Night?
If this is your first time reading about poetrybouding, you probably haven’t looked at my previous two articles on the topic. This is a series where I, as a fashion and literature enthusiast, try to move beyond the confines of written poetry to connect its power to vividly depict the abstract feelings of a writer with fashion’s existence as a method of self-expression that is materially visual. Fashion can be ordinary, but it has so much potential to provide a medium for anybody to embrace their feelings and personalities in personally unique ways, and poetry is another very personal medium through which emotions and the ego interact to create a written aesthetic with many times, therapeutical value.
In this installment, I will be picking apart Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Hymn to the Night to figure out how its imagery, sensory cues, and overall tone can be translated into clothing as a way to appreciate and mirror the message behind Longfellow’s poem. As a teaser, the Night’s characterization and personification as a figure of awe, tranquility, and inner peace is the main idea I will be focusing on as I try to create a look that represents those attributes. Comfort, style, conspicuousness, and a “light in the dark” effect are the key concepts that it should embody, as well as being predominantly a night design that can also be worn in the day. Finally, Longfellow gives the Night a female persona, so I will be tailoring the main look to the female gender, though I will subsequently add some alternative suggestions for men or anybody else to dress like the poem if they want to.
Here is Hymn to the Night:
“I heard the trailing garments of the Night
Sweep through her marble halls!
I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light.
From the celestial walls!
I felt her presence, by its spell of might,
Stoop o’er me from above;
The calm, majestic presence of the Night,
As of the one I love.
I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,
The manifold, soft chimes,
That fill the haunted chambers of the Night,
Like some old poet’s rhymes.
From the cool cisterns of the midnight air
My spirit drank repose;
The fountain of perpetual peace flows there, —
From those deep cisterns flows.
O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear
What man has borne before!
Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
And they complain no more.
Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!
Descend with broad-winged flight,
The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,
The best-beloved Night!”
The poem relies on imagery and a rich vocabulary to present the Night as a godly figure of benevolence. The lyrical persona begins his description by introducing her through vision and sound, yet not in a detailed manner, which leaves the readers to imagine her presence through their own interpretations, an alluring mystery. Then, he conjures Night’s personality as spellbound and majestic. She is a deity that exudes love in a familiar way to the reader and is thus not haunting. The moon is mythologically connected to magic (the lunar syzygy and spiritualistic rituals, for one), so Longfellow brings that relationship between magic and Night to characterize her as something akin to the moon, the light in the darkness. From this description, the poet establishes Night as the light that exits over her own gloom. Even if the poet pictures her celestial abode as a vast marble place with halls and cisterns haunted by the cries in the night, which represent the negative aspect of the darkness that overwhelms everything during this time of the day, he finds the absence of light peaceful, like the flow of still water inviting the lyrical subject and the reader to relax and sleep, as if the Night was tucking us in. Longfellow then finalizes his poem by associating the figure of the Night with the one of Care, showing that she loves to take care of the living, and through this exchange, brings peace to those who welcome her.
The aspect of Night’s personality that touches me the most is her tendency to care for life, to bring light to a body of darkness, to spread inner peace to those that accept her. I see her as the moon lighting up the sky, but because the poem does not use “moon,” I can take aspects of it to inform the fashion look. Since Longfellow pictures the Night as this being that protects life and covers it with calming feelings, a long off-white cream cardigan feels like the appropriate garment for her. Maybe even one with an extended baggy armhole area to form a wing or with winged sleeves to fully depict the Night as seen in Hymn to the Night. Simply put, the color that mostly represents light is white, and the color that most faithfully represents the moon is off-white cream, and a long cardigan offers this feeling of coziness and can be worn inside a house and out in the city.
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Nevertheless, the Night also exists in the form of shadows and darkness, so something in the look needs to represent these ideas. Instead of only selecting solid colors like black or navy to stylize the garment, I thought a long-sleeved star-patterned navy shirt or blouse could do the trick. Anyone can wear it below the cardigan to display the dominating nature of kindness over sorrow and fear of the unknown. The poem does not deny the Night’s cynical side; it chooses to celebrate her virtuous parts, so the outfit should imitate such thought. Moreover, the third line explicitly uses the sense of vision to exemplify an evident physical characteristic of the Night, while the first line uses sound to do so. While a gown that trails in the floor is accurate, it may not bode well for someone walking down the street, partying, and all sorts of things, so the image of something “long” is enough to tick that box. But a saber skirt is something I can work with. Archaically, saber means a shade of black, so the outfit needs a black skirt. But because the Night still has so much light to give, a pleated long black skirt or black vinyl pants (for those who don’t want to wear the bottom half of a dress) appear to shine when light reflects upon it, so this addition continues to push forward the narrative that the Night is more benevolent than malevolent.
Finally, I shall explore the footwear and accessories of the outfit. From the poem’s second line, it is clear that Night’s residence is pictured as being made of marble. Thus, because the floor is marble bound, a white marble pattern shoe could also speak of such an idea so as to connect the light coming from the cardigan to the floor in a white line. And residing inside her lair, there are several cisterns of which the poem depicts as having “fountains of perpetual peace.” Water is intrinsically connected to the Night’s somnolent attributes, so to materially illustrate it, a piece of jewelry with the water motif can be worn as a token of inner peace and relaxation. I found a beautiful Swarosky water power bracelet for women depicted below, but anything can go, gender-based or not.
In sum, the look I crafted for Hymn for the Night encompasses white tones surrounding darker colors in a conversation where light prevails over darkness but still acknowledges its existence. Everyone has their fears and insecurities, and it is always best to understand them, accept them, but not give in to their haunting cries so a ray of positivity can shine in their place. It is always easier said than done, but sometimes, reading something that embodies those ideas and then owning them by wearing them is at least a step in that direction. Poetry aside, the outfit is versatile and can be worn any time of the day in several different iterations, maybe even without the cardigan during the evening if you are interested in going on a party-heavy environment. In the end, a poem can be, and many times should be interpreted differently by each reader (this conclusion’s addendum is courtesy of my mind), so my guide is only a glimpse into the realm that connects both fashion and poetry.
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