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“A Summer Night” is a lyric of ninety-six lines, divided equally into sixteen stanzas (a later
version has only twelve). On a June evening, the poet-speaker lies on the lawn, looking at the
constellation Vega and aware of the moon beginning to rise. He feels fortunate to be here: a
place and time of erotic happiness and fertile friendships. He is an equal lying here each evening
with his friends; enchanted, each is called forth, as flowers are drawn by light into fullness of
blossom.
These are experiences that will later be recalled when the friends are separated. These evenings,
when beastly emotions are tame and there is no consciousness of death, will be important to
remember when emotions may be violent and times are chaotic. There is one friend among these
others whom the speaker regards as his beloved; their eyes exchange affection, and each is
present for the other through the passing of each day.
The second phase of the poem (stanzas 6 through 12) begins when the poet becomes aware of
outside pressures threatening to destroy his happiness. He considers the larger world, that part
which lies under the light of the rising moon. There, many others in all their variety are also
lying at rest. The moon, however, looks down impersonally upon all objects, not discriminating
between “churches and power stations,” not capable of enjoying the art that its light illuminates
in the great galleries of Europe. Indeed, the moon is unable to respond to anything except
gravity.
Excerpt from “The Little Prince” by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
“You’re not at all like my rose. You’re nothing at all yet,” he told them. “No one has tamed you and you
haven’t tamed anyone. You’re the way my fox was. He was just a fox like a hundred thousand others.
But I’ve made him my friend, and now he’s the only fox in all the world.”
You’re lovely, but you’re empty,” he went on. One couldn’t die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby
would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you
together, since she’s the one I’ve watered. Since she’s the one I put under glass. Since she’s the one I
sheltered behind a screen. Since she’s the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or
three for butterflies). Since she’s the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or
even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she’s my rose.”
“Good-bye,” he said.
“Goodbye,” said the fox. Here is my secret. It’s quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart.
Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
“Anything essential is invisible to the eyes,” the little prince repeated, in order to remember.
“It’s the time you spend on your rose that makes your rose so important.”
“It’s the time I spent on my rose…,” the little prince repeated, in order to remember.
“People have forgotten this truth,” the fox said. “But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible
forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose…”
“I’m responsible for my rose…,” the little prince repeated, in order to remember.
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,"
by Christopher Marlowe