Point of View

“Night Bird” is written from a first person perspective. The speaker instructs the reader to understand things on a literal level without assigning any personal or figurative meanings. This way of observing and understanding the world decenters the observer, but the fact that the speaker asserts her presence throughout the poem means that the observer still plays an important role. In other words, the speaker does not instruct readers to take themselves completely out of the equation. Instead, a fully present and attentive reader of the world can appreciate things just as they are. This is evident in the poem when the speaker lists different natural phenomena such as thunder, a barking dog, and falling leaves without using metaphors or symbolism to make these things mean more than what they are. The speaker listens to a night bird give a single cry outside her window...