Night and darkness
As in many poems, night and darkness represent death throughout “Aubade.” The speaker lies in the “soundless dark,” which resembles the void of death—the nothingness of “not to be here, not to be anywhere”—that he so deply fears. Just as the night is “soundless,” the speaker anticipates that in death, there will be “no sound,” as well as “no sight,” “no touch or taste or smell,” in the third stanza.
Day and light
On the other hand, day and light stand for life in “Aubade.” Yet, in keeping with the gloomy tone of the poem, these symbols carry little cheer. In the first stanza, the speaker imagines “the curtain-edges will grow light” as day comes, but the new day ahead is little solace for him as he remains consumed by his thoughts of death. When the room finally does brighten and “takes shape” with the start of the day in the final stanza, the thought of death remains “plain as a wardrobe”—that is, obvious and unavoidable. The day begins in a dull clay-white “with no sun” as happiness and distraction again elude the speaker.
