Children of the Night

"Children of the Night" by Edwin Arlington Robinson is a set of late 1800s poems that looks closely at tough topics like sadness, what it means to be human, and trying to find purpose when things seem grim. Robinson uses different poetic forms to share feelings of gloom and deep thought. His poems show people struggling to find where they fit and dealing with hard times; a poem with the same name as the book thinks about the sadness of people lost in the dark, and another poem tells a story about someone who looks perfect but is secretly dealing with despair. These works encourage considering big human emotions, showing both the short-lived happiness and long-lasting sadnesses that connect with our own experiences, and using strong images and feelings, Robinson paints a picture of how complicated life is, pushing us to think about the good and bad in ourselves.