These ethereal verses explore the celestial beauty and symbolism of the moon. They romanticize the moon’s light, using it as a metaphor for emotions, cycles, and phases of life.
These poems evoke a sense of mystery and wonder, capturing the moon’s influence on nature and human emotions. These verses transport readers to moonlit landscapes through rhythmic language and dreamlike imagery, where emotions and imagination intertwine under the silvery glow.
‘Ballad of the Moon Moon’ by Federico Garcia Lorca is a brilliant and dreamlike depiction of the moon descending to Earth in the form of a woman.
This poem is undoubtedly one of the most unique and interesting poetic renderings of the moon ever produced. On the one hand, it perpetuates age-old connotations by highlighting the moon's feminine qualities. However, it also affords the moon an enormous amount of agency and power, subverting Lorca's readers' expectations of both the moon and feminine figures more broadly.
‘Clair de lune’ by Paul Verlaine is a poignant introspection that imagines the soul as a landscape upon which beauty and sadness find themselves manifested in the moon’s beams of light.
A core topic of the poem is the moon, which, apart from the soul, is its primary fixation. The moonlight of Verlaine's poem symbolizes a variety of ideas and themes, illuminating beauty and sadness, catalyzing enchantment and splendor. Like a prism, its light shines through us to articulate those various dichotomies in ethereal images.
Your soul is a chosen landscape
On which masks and Bergamasques cast enchantment as they go,
‘From time to time’ by Matsuo Bashō describes clouds parting to reveal the moon’s light, symbolically representing hope and change.
The moon, a recurring symbol in poetry, holds a prominent place in ‘From time to time.’ Bashō portrays the moon as a source of beauty and wonder, often obscured by the clouds but occasionally granted visibility. The moon represents a celestial beacon, evoking emotions of awe and tranquility while also symbolizing the cyclical nature of life and the passage of time.
Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market,’ narrates the fantastical tale of Laura and Lizzie, delving into sin, redemption, and sisterhood.
Moon is associated with femininity, mystery, sensuality, and ethereal aura in literature. It adds to this poem's fantastical aura, while its occurrence at particular points symbolizes specific ideas. For instance, 'Moon and stars' gazing at sleeping sisters accentuate their purity, grace, and beauty; Jeanie meets the goblins in the moonlight, and Laura is compared to a 'moonlit poplar branch' when she looks at the goblins, suggesting youthful sensuality; notably, right before Laura finds out she can't hear goblins' calls, 'The stars rise, the moon bends her arc,' foreshadowing the change in Laura's life as after 'She dwindled, as the fair full moon doth turn,' which signifies the cyclic nature of moon hinting at the potential rebirth or renewal of Laura.
Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Valentine’ challenges conventional romance with an unexpected gift: an onion conveying honesty and genuine emotion.
By describing the onion as 'a moon wrapped in brown paper,' Duffy revives this classic symbol of love, contrasting it with today's commercialized tokens of affection, whose surface-level prettiness would fade in a few days. The moon represents genuine emotion and the promise of light and truth in love - elements lost in the superficiality of modern love. The speaker hints at the ethereal beauty of the honest form of love by equating the onion to the moon.
‘Love in Moonlight’ explores human vulnerability, nature’s beauty, and cosmic connections amidst moonlit scenes, evoking profound emotions and wonder.
The poem delves into the topic of the moon by portraying it as a symbol of beauty, connection, and transformation. Louise Glück utilizes vivid imagery of moonlit landscapes to evoke a sense of wonder and enchantment. The poem suggests that the moon's luminous glow illuminates moments of intimacy and vulnerability, offering solace and spiritual resonance amidst the natural world's sublime beauty.
Sometimes a man or woman forces his despairon another person, which is calledbaring the heart, alternatively, baring the soul–meaning for this moment they acquired souls–
Duffy’s ‘Warming Her Pearls’ explores the restrained lesbian desire of a maid for her mistress through the pearls of the mistress’s necklace.
The moon in poetry often creates a romantic backdrop symbolizing romantic emotions, desire, feminine sensuality, and instinctual feelings. Similarly, a full moon conveys heightened romantic, instinctual emotions; the speaker mentions the 'full moon' before describing the erotic scenes where she sensually imagines the mistress undressing and sleeping naked while she pines for her in her attic. The full moon conveys the speaker's heightened desire (like rising tides) and consuming feelings as she 'burns' without the mistress's 'cool' pearls, which she warms with her passion, satisfying her desire.
Next to my own skin, her pearls. My mistress
bids me wear them, warm them, until evening
when I'll brush her hair. At six, I place them
round her cool, white throat. All day I think of her,
‘Week-night Service’ creates a vivid scene of a church at night. The sound of bells disturbs the otherwise quiet church yard and the nature that surrounds it.
The moon is one of the central images in the poem. The poem compares the moon to a coin that has been flipped to answer a yes or no question. Instead of landing, the moon has become stuck in the sky, placidly leaving the question unanswered. The moon is a wise but ultimately indifferent figure in the poem.
Alice Oswald’s ‘Eel Tail’ explores nature’s elusiveness and mysteries through the enigmatic movements of eels that defy human understanding.
The moon symbolizes ancient transcendental mysteries and enigmatic forces governing the universe. Like the eels, the moon emanates from the same mysterious power - emerging from the darkness of the universe just as the eels appear from the depths of water. Both entities symbolize the inscrutable aspects of nature beyond human comprehension, prompting contemplation on the profound mysteries and interconnectedness of the cosmos. Withal, the moon symbolizes mysterious, supernatural, or ethereal aspects in literature.
‘The Langur Coloured Night’ envisions an ethereal scene from nature, focusing on the relationship between a solitary moon and a howling primate.
Apart from the langur, the moon is another piece of the scenery that catches the speaker's eye. Not only does its light render everything it touches into something ethereal, but it also illuminates the night, providing the animal with safe passage. In some ways, the moon is like a secondary character, a companion, and the dialogue partner of the langur, as well as a "dear friend."
‘The Listeners’ by Walter de la Mare describes a traveler knocking at the door of a deserted home inhabited by phantoms at night in a forest.
In literature, the moon is often used to create a mysterious, otherworldly aura. Moonlight is significant to the poem's imagery, emphasizing the visual effect of an eerie, mysterious, and supernatural atmosphere as it is used three times on crucial points to aid the otherworldliness. The poem shows the uncanny nighttime, stating the traveler knocked 'on the moonlit door.' The moon in the imagery of the phantom 'listening in the quiet of the moonlight,' standing amid the 'faint moonbeams on the dark stair' accentuates the horror and creepy silence.
Carolyn D. Wright’s ‘Crescent’ is a thoughtful poem that describes a speaker’s intimate, incoherent feelings. She appreciates the nocturne with warmth and passion.
The moon plays a symbolic role in 'Crescent', representing beauty and mystery. The speaker connects with the moon as a distant yet constant presence in the night sky, adding a sense of calm and reflection to her thoughts. The moon becomes a symbol of emotional stillness and guidance, as the speaker contemplates her feelings while gazing upon its light, finding comfort in its soft glow.
In recent months I have become intent on seizing happi-
ness: to this end I applied various shades of blue: only
the evening is outside us now propagating honeysuckle:
In Robert Browning’s ‘Meeting at Night,’ the speaker sails across the sea to secretly reunite with his beloved under the moon’s soft glow.
Literature often uses the moon to symbolize otherworldliness and romance, enhancing the ethereal atmosphere. The moon in this poem accentuates the romantic backdrop with its serene and captivating light, intensifying the passion and intimacy in the lovers' clandestine meeting. Described as 'the yellow half-moon large and low,' it casts a beautiful glow over the beach, imbuing the lovers' romantic rendezvous with an ethereal charm.
‘Sonnet 31’ is featured in Astrophil and Stella, a sonnet sequence that has 108 sonnets and 11 songs. It narrates the story of Astrophil and his hopeless passion for Stella.
The moon plays a central role in the poem as both setting and silent companion. The speaker observes its pale face and slow movement across the night sky, interpreting these traits as signs of emotional weariness. He imagines the moon feeling the same kind of emotional pain he is going through. By treating the moon as a fellow sufferer, the poem uses this celestial figure to mirror human sadness and to frame the speaker’s inner turmoil.
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies!
‘The Solitude of Night’ by Li Bai portrays the speaker’s solitude in the aftermath of a wine party at night.
The symbol of the moon or moonlight in the poem is a recurring motif reflecting the poet's enduring fascination. As the speaker walks alone along the river in the moonlight, the imagery becomes a metaphor for introspection and contemplation. Its presence enhances the beauty of nature and illuminates the solitude and melancholy while guiding the speaker's walk, imbuing it with aesthetics and spirituality.
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