Describe the setting of "Night Sounds", a poem by Carolyn Kizer, and how the setting supports the feelings of the speaker.

Carolyn Kizer's poem, "Night Sounds" takes place at night
when the subject of the poem is trying to sleep. This is the
setting.

There is darkness and moonlight (prevalent
imagery), which bring about her recollections of time she spent with her husband or
lover. The poem speaks to what was and what is. The relationship is over, and though the
setting—her bedroom—is the same, and the darkness and moonlight are still there, what
has changed—besides noises she now hears that she did not before—is
his presence. Awake in her bed, the speaker is able to look more honestly at her time
with her departed lover. She recalls that even when they were together, there was a
distance that separated them emotionally—a wall he had built. Now that he is gone, the
distance is not only emotional, but also physical, supported (again) by the isolation of
the night.

The setting of darkness seems to reflect the
speaker's emotional state. There is a coldness in the moonlight; aloneness surrounds
her; her bed is empty, "no heavy, impassive back to nudge with one foot." She can hear a
dog's "hollow cadence" traveling through the night which adds to her sense of emptiness.
In her isolation, she faces a night "tinged by terror or
nostalgia."

The setting of darkness in the night supports
the theme of loneliness experienced by the poem's speaker.