Poem Analysis: The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

 The Night Has a Thousand Eyes

By Francis William Bourdillon

The night has a thousand eyes,

And the day but one;

Yet the light of the bright world dies

With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,

And the heart but one;

Yet the light of a whole life dies

When love is done.

There's an old saying that goes "a picture is worth a thousand words." If that is true, then these eight lines must be worth eight-thousand words, or perhaps a thousand pictures.              Either way, there is no argument that this poem is deep, or at the very least, filled with meaning. 

But what does it mean? What does it mean when saying that the mind has more eyes than the heart? What are the eyes that it's talking about? What kind of love is "done?" And why does it seem like this poem is stating that eyes make light, anyway?

    First off, you probably already understand at least one metaphor from this poem, and that is the very title of the poem itself. It seems quite obvious, really, that the thousands of eyes       are referring to the stars in the night sky. Nonetheless the one eyes that the day has must be referring to the sun, as is later says that "the light of the bright world dies with the dying sun." It's quite easy (at least in comparison to the next few lines) to connect the dots. 

    What about the part that's saying that the mind and the heart have eyes? What are those eyes referring to? Gathering information from the metaphors that could be deemed 'easier to understand,' we can tell that "eyes" in this context is referring to some sort of light. In the case of the mind, it must be talking about ideas or thoughts. As for the light of the heart, it is of course talking about love, for it mentions that "the light of a whole life dies when love is done." 

   But does the heart not feel more than one powerful feeling or emotion? What about contentment? Grief? Joy? But the fact of the matter is that it's likely referencing the action of love. When you love your family you take care of them, and they you. When you love friends,   you talk to one another, spend time together, and are usually there to support one another. When you love your spouse, you hug and kiss one another. Love is a noun, but it's also a verb, and if none of these things were around and we were simply walking around aimlessly   and isolated, wouldn't it seem like there is no light in life. But, this could be left up to interpretation, and isn't a fixed answer.