In section 1, the poet wanders all night "in my vision" and observes the human scene. His state is "confused." He sees all the people sleeping: "the little children in their cradles," the white features of corpses," the "livid faces of drunkards," the new-born emerging from gates, and the dying emerging from gates." Later the poet observes loving sleepers: "the married couple . . . .. the sisters," and the mother with her little child. The blind, the deaf, the prisoners, the unrequited lovers — all are sleeping. The earth seems to recede from the poet as he stands near "the worst-suffering." Then the poet imagines himself in different roles. He becomes other sleepers, and he dreams their dreams. The poet thus gives himself up to the mysteries of the night and the unreal world of dreams. He recounts some of those dreams.
The progression of the first section is akin to the semi-rational, semi-erratic quality of consciousness. The section concerns the poet's identification with various characters who are sleepers in different states of slumber. It is the range and quality of the human scene which is significant. Life is observed from the condition of birth to that of death. Simultaneously, the emotions which affect the sleepers subconsciously become the objects of the poet's identification. The poet becomes one with the night and darkness. Thus he pierces the darkness and observes the beauty of the eternal. This is the poet's mystical vision which penetrates the world of matter and reaches the reality of the spirit. The matter-of-fact world ends and the unreal world of dreams begins. The joy of the merging is similar to the ecstasy of sexual fulfillment. The imagery is vividly physical and sexual and was criticized on that account; consequently, for later editions, the poet modified the text. But the idea of the poet's merging with the night being comparable to the joy of sexual experience remains clear and compelling.
