Nighthawks Poem Analysis

Nighthawks

In life, some people may be Nighthawks. They are not like an owl of the night, but outcasts. These people have isolated themselves emotionally from those around them and are just feasting upon life’s most taboo pleasures. Using the socially disconnected characters, Samuel Yellen emphasizes the idea that that only by living a life of daring and excitement will humans ever be truly content with their lives.

Those described in the poem are described majorly as being distant from one another; they are disconnected socially and emotionally. Although the man and woman are right next to each other -- their hands close, but not touching -- they do not even know each other. There is also the man across from them with a hunch back, living

As well as the man behind the counter, separated physically from those on the other side. Along with the characters in the poem being described as if they were isolated from each other, the poem itself is from the disjointed reader’s point of view. It shows you as disconnected from them as they are from each other, blocked by the pane of curved glass looking among the patrons with a complacent eye. Though are we not lucky to be not one of those located at the diner? Their pleasures pleased and their satisfactions satisfied through their actions to create a sense of affirmation in their existence on this planet. Each one of them has done one thing or another seen as taboo in society in order to bring some sort of excitement into their probably bleak and dreary lives.

The poem opens to describe “Al’s Coffee Cup or the Hamburger Tower” (Yellen 3) at “The [...] corner of Empty and Bleak” (Yellen 1), setting the mood

Lynn Aikman is quoted with saying “Nighthawks is a powerful and dramatic portrayal of loneliness” (Aikman 27). In her interpretation she notes the man and the woman, specifically how their hands almost are touching but not quite, and how this creates a sense of “Sexuality, boredom, solitude, detachment, and thoughtfulness” (Aikman 27). Another critic, Rebecca Swayze has said how the scene itself really emphasizes “the dichotomy of the city as a place for life and a place for work” (Swayze 27). She believes there is a stark juxtaposition between the characters and the setting itself, they contrast between their loneliness, and the lively nature of the city scene in which their coffee shop is located. These other critics all have close to the same idea over their interpretation of the work, while some may be worded differently, almost every one of them believes that “Nighthawks” is supposed to highlight the deep purpose of modern human nature to seclude ourselves even in the most crowded, and busy