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The Man with Night Sweats

Nostalgically, he recalls that "My flesh was [once] its own
SUMMARY shield: / Where it was gashed, it healed." In other words, even
when his body went through intense or dangerous experiences,
I awake feeling chills. After enjoying dreams about heat, I now
it seemed able to heal itself and protect him from lasting
wake up to the effects of those dreams: perspiration and a
consequences.
bedsheet sticking to my body.
These lines seemingly allude to the sexual penetration and drug
My body (or skin) used to be its own protection: wherever it
injections through which HIV is often transmitted, and the
was cut or injured, it restored itself to health.
implication is that the speaker contracted his illness through
Growing up involved exploring my body, which I trusted to sex or drug use that he didn't expect to cause him lasting harm.
protect itself even as I loved the risk-taking that strengthened
Rather than expressing regrets, however, the speaker
it.
acknowledges that "risk[s]"—including risks that may have led
Everything that tested the resilience of my flesh was to his illness—were part of what made youth wonderful. He
wonderfully exciting. says that he "adored / The risk that made robust"—meaning
I can't help feeling sorrow that the "shield" of my body that his risky behavior was thrilling and even empowering. In
broke—that my mind is now racing with anxiety, and my flesh is fact, he found "A world of wonders in / Each challenge to the
emaciated and badly damaged. skin." His risk-taking seemed to open up a whole liberating
I have to change my sheets, but instead I find myself standing "world" before it made him ill.
still, wrapping my arms around my body as though to protect it Though the speaker doesn't regret specific experiences, he does
from the suffering it will experience. grieve that youth and health had to end this way. The poem
As though hands alone could keep away the future "avalanche" laments the suffering that youthful thrills can lead to, and the
of pain and death. fact that death comes for our bodies no matter how much we
"trust" and enjoy them. He can't help feeling "sorry" that the
"shield" of his body "cracked" (failed to protect him),
THEMES "reduc[ing]" him to mental anxiety and physical deterioration.
Again, this phrasing expresses sorrow more than regret: a life
ILLNESS, VULNERABILITY, AND he clearly enjoyed has fallen apart too soon, but he doesn't
express a desire to undo any of his past. Instead, he "hugs" his
MORTALITY
own body "As if to shield it from / The pains that will go through
"The Man with Night Sweats" portrays a man coping me." Since his body couldn't shield him, he's trying to shield
with a severe illness, implied to be HIV/AIDS. (This is the title it—but he knows that he can't actually protect it from internal
poem of a collection that reckons with the AIDS crisis, and deterioration and suffering. He acknowledges that his own
night sweats are a common symptom of AIDS.) As the speaker "hands" won't be "enough / To hold an avalanche off."
laments his current vulnerability, he mourns the lost strength
At the time, AIDS was fatal in most cases, so this is a
and daring of his youth, when his body seemed to be a self-
metaphorical acknowledgment of his own approaching death.
healing "shield" against the "risk[s]" he took. "Hugging" his body
But it also implies that the "avalanche" of death eventually
protectively, he anticipates the metaphorical "avalanche" of
comes for everyone, despite all human efforts. In the end, then,
death—something he knows he can't "hold off." The poem thus
the poem broadens beyond the speaker's situation, mourning
laments human mortality in general, as well as an iron
ironyy familiar
all victims of the AIDS epidemic and lamenting mortality as
to many AIDS patients: risky experiences that feel empowering
something that no human body can protect against.
and thrilling in youth can cause great vulnerability and suffering
as we age.
Where this theme appears in the poem:
The speaker wakes to "cold," "Sweat," and a "clinging" sheet,
having suffered night sweats. It's implied (especially in the • Lines 1-24
broader context of Gunn's 1992 collection) that these sweats
are a symptom of AIDS, which at the time was generally a
terminal condition.
As the speaker now feels ill and vulnerable, he looks back
wistfully to a time when he felt healthy and resilient.

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Where it was gashed, it healed.
LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
"Flesh" here can refer specifically to the skin or more broadly to
LINES 1-4 the body. The speaker means that whenever and wherever he
I wake up ... was injured, his skin/body seemed able to protect him and heal
... a clinging sheet. quickly.
The poem's first quatr
quatrain
ain introduces the speaker, whom the As the overall context of the poem makes clear, the speaker's
title identifies as "The Man with Night Sweats." The poem body no longer has this ability. HIV/AIDS compromises the
appears in Thom Gunn's collection of the same title, which human immune system—basically, its innate ability to protect
mourns victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic (including a number and heal itself—leaving patients vulnerable to a variety of
of Gunn's friends). It's implied, then, that this speaker is infections and cancers. Skin conditions such as sores and
experiencing night sweats as a common symptom of AIDS. lesions are often early symptoms of HIV infection. And at the
(Later lines in the poem will allude to other symptoms as well.) time the poem was written, AIDS was fatal in most cases. Thus,
Gunn didn't suffer from the disease himself, so the poem is a both the speaker's skin and his body as a whole have become
dramatic monologue; the speaker is a character different from exceptionally vulnerable; they no longer feel shield-like at all.
the poet. Notice how the speaker heightens the painful iron ironyy by making
This first stanza describes the aftermath of the night sweats the shield comparison a metaphor rather than a simile ("My
themselves. The speaker "wake[s] up cold" with the sweat- flesh was its own shield" rather than "My flesh was lik likee its own
soaked bedsheet clinging to him. The speaker describes the shield"). By now, he knows that his flesh, and the "flesh" in
sweat as a "residue," or byproduct, of his "dreams of heat," general (the mortal, human body), is vulnerable in all sorts of
which he says he "Prospered through" before waking. This ways. Even at its healthiest, it was never a reliable source of
unusual description could have a few different implications: protection; it needed protecting.
The combination of all-monosyllabic words, /w/ alliter
alliteration
ation
• His "dreams of heat" may have been prompted by
("w
was"/"W Where"/"w was"), and strong /sh/ and /d/ consonance
fever (another common symptom of AIDS).
("flesh
sh," "sh
shield
d," "gashedd," "healed
d") makes these lines sound
• They may have seemed pleasant (he thrived on, or
heavy and dense, like the supposed "shield" they describe.
"Prospered through," them) while he was asleep, but
unpleasant once he woke to the cold, sweaty sheets. LINES 7-12
• Alternatively (or additionally), "dreams of heat"
might suggest hot dreams—dreams involving sexual
I grew as ...
desire. Since HIV is most often sexually transmitted, ... to the skin.
the speaker might be suggesting that his illness is Building on the "shield" metaphor from lines 5-6, the speaker
metaphorically a "residue" of sex and desire. now describes how his feelings of youthful invulnerability led
Similarly, his feeling of "cold" on waking could have a him to take, and even seek out, "risk[s]."
metaphorical element: illness might have drained his Because he "could trust" his "body" to heal itself, he "explored"
passion and joy. its capabilities in all sorts of ways. Notice how the phrasing here
reverses expectations: instead of saying he explored his body as
This first quatrain contains short, trimeter (three-beat) lines he grew up, he says he "grew as [he] explored" it. He feels this
and a tight, alternating rh
rhyme
yme scheme (ABAB; "who"/"residue" exploration was a vital part of his coming of age: by learning
and "heat"/"sheet"). Throughout the poem, these quatrains will more about his body and what it enjoyed, he "grew" as a
alternate with rhrhymed
ymed trimeter couplets
couplets. In general, the poem's person. These lines refer, of course, to the kinds of fun but risky
short lines and formal strictness suggest a certain emotional behavior many young people enjoy: experimentation with sex,
containment, as if the form is barely keeping a lid on the drugs, etc.
speaker's fear and pain.
Even as he "trust[ed]" his body throughout this phase, he
LINES 5-6 "adored / The risk that made robust." In other words, he loved
My flesh was ... the thrill of risk-taking even as he felt confident that he'd
... gashed, it healed. survive these risks unharmed, and even that surviving them
would make him more "robust." (The poet may be thinking,
Lines 5-6, a rh
rhymed
ymed couplet
couplet, present a metaphor for the
here, of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's famous claim: "What
seeming invulnerability of youth. The speaker remembers when
does not kill me makes me stronger.") In fact, the speaker
his body seemed as strong as a self-healing "shield":
enjoyed his experimentation so much that he found:
My flesh was its own shield:

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A world of wonders in (sometimes called "HIV wasting syndrome") can be a symptom
Each challenge to the skin. of advanced HIV/AIDS, and AIDS sufferers are exposed to a
range of conditions, including cancers and infections, that
Like the earlier "flesh"/"shield" metaphor, this "challenge" damage skin and body tissue.
metaphor hints that some of the risks he enjoyed involved the This stanza contains the poem's first slant rh
rhymes
ymes
penetration of his body or piercing of his skin (e.g,., sex with ("sorry"/"hurry"; "cracked"/"wrecked"); the previous lines used
men, drug injection, etc.). Though the language is slightly perfect rhymes only. It's as if the rhymes' perfection has
ambiguous, the general idea is clear: some of the same "risk" suddenly "cracked," like the speaker's body.
and "challenge" that brought a "world of wonders"—liberating
Meanwhile, the diacope (of "reduced") and anaphor
anaphoraa/par
parallel
allel
him as he came of age—also led to his current illness.
structure of lines 15-16 ("My
My mind reduced [...] / My flesh
Strong alliter
alliteration
ation ("rrisk"/"rrobust"; "w
world of wonders") reduced
reduced") draw out two related, but subtly different, meanings
accentuates these lines, making the language sound more of "reduced." The speaker's mind feels metaphorically
"robust" and intensifying a description of intense pleasures. diminished (it's not what it used to be), whereas his flesh has
Frequent enjambment (lines 7-9 and 11) adds a feeling of physically diminished (he's wasting away).
openness to these memories of "explor[ation]":
The asyndeton between these lines also makes them feel swift
and concise, adding to the poem's solemn tone.
[...] I explored
The body I could trust LINES 17-22
Ev
Even en while I adored
I have to ...
The risk [...]
... go through me,
A world of wonders in
Each challenge [...] In lines 17-22, the speaker stops, stands still ("upright" in
place), and clasps his own body tightly. He's about "to change
In fact, the line break after "explored" makes the word itself the bed" because he's soaked his sheets with sweat during the
seem to float freely for a moment. night. Apparently, he's still at home and not yet hospitalized.
Still, he anticipates that his sickness will only get worse. He may
LINES 13-16 be "catch[ing]" and "Hugging" himself partly due to feverish
I cannot but ... aches or chills, but he also seems to feel a protective
... reduced and wrecked. tenderness toward his own body:
Lines 13-16 mark a shift in tone
tone, as the speaker acknowledges
As if to shield it from
the illness (AIDS) that's "wreck[ing]" his body. He can't help
The pains that will go through me,
feeling "sorry," he says, that:
Because his body hasn't been able to shield him, he feels the
The given shield was cracked,
need to "shield" it. But there's a poignant iron
ironyy here: he can't
My mind reduced to hurry,
actually shield his body against these internal "pains."
My flesh reduced and wrecked.
Unavoidably, they "will go through him" no matter how much
external protection he now tries to give himself.
"The given shield" is a metaphor for the body he was born with
(and echoes the language of lines 5-6). The speaker laments The speaker's use of simile ("AsAs if to shield it" rather than, say,
that this shield "cracked": his body once seemed able to protect "In
In order to shield it") drives home the way his "shield[ing]" is
him from anything, but it proved more vulnerable than he only figur
figurativ
ativee or imaginative. Meanwhile, the word "Hugging"
realized. In fact, since AIDS compromises the immune system, (as opposed to a near-synonym like "Clasping") conveys the love
his body is now vulnerable to almost anything (disease, he feels for his body: there's a sense that he's mourning its
infection, etc.). Like a broken shield, it no longer offers any real inevitable loss.
protection.
LINES 23-24
The word "sorry" in line 13 isn't an apology, and it doesn't
As if hands ...
necessarily express regret for past risk-taking. It does express
... an avalanche off.
sorrow, however, as the speaker copes with his illness. Now that
his body is breaking down, his "mind" feels "reduced to hurry": Lines 23-24 close the poem with a slant-rh
slant-rhymed
ymed couplet
couplet:
his thoughts are dominated by anxiety, panic, and a sense of
time slipping away. Meanwhile, his "flesh" is "reduced and As if hands were enough
wrecked"—gaunt and badly damaged. Weight and muscle loss To hold an avalanche off.

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The speaker, still "Hugging" himself, recognizes that his own
arms and "hands" will not be "enough" to protect him. They • Lines 1-2: “I who / Prospered through dreams of heat”
can't "hold [...] off" the metaphorical "avalanche" of pain and • Lines 5-6: “My flesh was its own shield: / Where it was
death that AIDS patients typically faced before modern gashed, it healed.”
treatments. (See the Context section of this guide for more • Lines 11-12: “A world of wonders in / Each challenge to
historical context.) the skin.”
• Line 14: “The given shield was cracked,”
In fact, since AIDS was usually a terminal diagnosis at the time,
• Line 24: “To hold an avalanche off.”
nothing seems able to stop this "avalanche." Once again, the use
of simile ("As if") helps underline the gap between wish and
reality: the speaker hugs himself as if he could shield himself, SIMILE
knowing full well he can't. Two similes occur in par
parallel
allel at the end of the poem. The
The slant rhyme ("enough"/"off") adds a sense of closure, but speaker says that he is:
not the resonant closure a full rhyme might provide. As a result,
the ending conveys a finality that's not quite satisfying—a fitting Hugging my body to me
choice for a poem about terminal illness and premature death. As if to shield it from
The pains that will go through me,
As if hands were enough
POETIC DEVICES To hold an aavalanche
valanche off
off..

METAPHOR The "As if" phrasing underscores the wishful nature of these
The speaker uses metaphor to convey his experience of both comparisons (note that this repeating "As if" is also an example
health and illness. of anaphor
anaphoraa). The speaker is clasping his own body like a shield
against the pain he'll experience, and like someone who thinks
In lines 1-2, for example, he says that he "Prospered through
he can hold off an avalanche with his bare hands. But he knows
dreams of heat" before waking up to sweaty sheets:
these efforts are doomed. (How can you shield yourself
externally against pain you'll feel internally? And how could a
• The word "Prospered" is figur
figurativ
ativee here; it means
single human being stop an avalanche?)
that he thrived on or enjoyed these dreams.
• The ambiguous phrase "dreams of heat" could be The word "avalanche" here metaphorically suggests a
metaphorical as well. Were these feverish dreams disastrous onslaught of pain, sickness, and ultimately, death.
about high temperatures, or were they figuratively (Recall that AIDS patients have compromised immune systems,
hot—that is, sexual fantasies? If it's the second, the so in the absence of modern treatments, they generally suffer
speaker may be suggesting that his illness is a an increasing number of worsening medical conditions.)
"residue" (line 3), or byproduct, of desire. (HIV is As a result of these similes, the ending conveys a sense of
most often sexually transmitted.) poignant inevitability: pain "will
will go through" the speaker, and he
will eventually succumb to his illness. The best he can do is try
In later lines, he imagines his "flesh" as "its own shield": a to "shield" himself from the worst, or "hold off" the inevitable,
protective barrier that "healed" itself whenever it was "gashed," for as long as he can.
or injured. Since shields are often associated with warriors and
heroes, the speaker is suggesting that he once felt youthful,
Where Simile appears in the poem:
powerful, and even invulnerable. As he experimented with
"risk" (implying sex, drugs, etc.), he loved each figurative • Lines 21-24: “As if to shield it from / The pains that will
"challenge to the skin." go through me, / As if hands were enough / To hold an
Again, pleasures like sex and drugs seemed to test his body, or avalanche off.”
penetrate its "shield," but he didn't feel they could cause serious
damage. In fact, they seemed to open up a metaphorical, CONSONANCE
liberating "world of wonders." Only once the "shield was The poem's language is very musical, featuring plenty of
cracked"—his body invaded by a disease that destroyed his consonance and alliter
alliteration
ation. Repeating consonant sounds often
protection against other diseases—did he begin to appreciate subtly underline the speaker's meaning, as in lines 5-6:
his physical vulnerability.
My flesh
sh was its own sh
shieldd:
Where Metaphor appears in the poem: Where it was gash
shed
d, it healed
d.

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The soft /sh/ sounds have an insistent, slicing effect, like I grew as I explored
something "gash[ing]" the "flesh." On the other hand, the /d/ The body [...]
sounds are harder and more solid, like the "shield" of the Even while I adored
"healed" flesh itself. The risk [...]
In general, alliterative words add density and emphasis to the A world of wonders in
poem's already compact, rhythmic lines. In line 10, for example, Each challenge [...]
"Th
The"/"th
that" and"rrisk" /"rrobust" make the line itself sound
weighty and robust: The poem even enjambs some lines that would normally be
end-stopped
end-stopped. Under normal grammar rules, for example,
Even while I adored commas would punctuate the ends of lines 8 ("The body I could
Th
The risk th
that made robust, trust") and 19 ("Stopped upright where I am"), but the poet
chooses to omit them. One possible reason for the omission in
But those /r/ sounds echo in a sadder context (along with /m/ line 19 is that, along with the other enjambments in this
alliteration) in lines 15-16: passage, it makes the language seem to tumble quickly down
the page:
My mind reduced to hurry,
My flesh reduced and wr
wrecked. But catch myself instead
Stopped upright where I am
This second use of /r/ alliteration contrasts poignantly with the Hugging my body to me
first; the body that was once "robust" is now "reduced" and As if to shield it from
"wrecked" by illness. The pains that will go through me,
Alliteration also highlights the importance of the "w
world of As if hands were enough
wonders" the speaker experienced in youth (line 11), as well as To hold [...]
the desperation of his wish that his "h
hands" could "h
hold" off
death (line 24). With hardly any end-stopping punctuation to slow its "fall," the
sentence keeps plunging downward until it reaches that final
period. In this way, the poem's form subtly aligns with its closing
Where Consonance appears in the poem:
"avalanche" metaphor
metaphor. Much as the "avalanche" of death is
• Line 1: “wake,” “cold” coming no matter what, the poem itself seems to tumble
• Line 5: “flesh,” “shield” unstoppably toward its conclusion.
• Line 6: “gashed,” “healed”
• Line 10: “risk,” “robust” Where Enjambment appears in the poem:
• Line 11: “world,” “wonders”
• Line 13: “but be” • Lines 1-2: “who / Prospered”
• Line 14: “cracked” • Lines 2-3: “ heat / Wake”
• Line 15: “My mind,” “reduced,” “hurry” • Lines 7-8: “explored / The”
• Line 16: “reduced,” “wrecked” • Lines 8-9: “trust / Even”
• Line 17: “bed” • Lines 9-10: “adored / The”
• Line 18: “But,” “myself instead” • Lines 11-12: “in / Each”
• Line 19: “Stopped upright” • Lines 13-14: “sorry / The”
• Line 23: “hands,” “enough” • Lines 18-19: “instead / Stopped”
• Line 24: “hold,” “avalanche” • Lines 19-20: “am / Hugging”
• Lines 20-21: “me / As”
• Lines 21-22: “from / The”
ENJAMBMENT
• Lines 23-24: “enough / To”
The poem uses a great deal of enjambment
enjambment; fully half its lines
are enjambed. REPETITION
In a few instances, this effect creates a sense of openness at the The poem repeats a number of key words and phrases, calling
ends of lines. The words/phrases "explored," "adored," and "A readers' attention to their importance in the poem. For
world of wonders in" all occur right before enjambments (lines example, "shield" occurs three times in the poem, twice as a
7, 9, and 11); each seems to hang in mid-air for a moment at the noun and once as a verb (lines 5, 14, and 21):
end of its line, evoking the spirit of openness and wonder that
characterized the speaker's youth: My flesh was its own shield
shield:

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[...]
The given shield was cracked, • Line 1: “I wake,” “I”
[...] • Line 3: “Wake”
As if to shield it from • Line 5: “My flesh,” “shield”
• Line 7: “I,” “I”
In each case, the word "shield" is metaphorical
metaphorical. The changing • Line 8: “I”
context of this word mirrors the changes in the speaker's adult • Line 9: “I”
life: • Line 13: “I”
• Line 14: “shield”
• At first, his body seems to be "its own shield," • Line 15: “My,” “reduced”
capable of protecting and healing itself under any • Line 16: “My flesh reduced”
circumstances. • Line 17: “I”
• When the speaker contracts HIV, it seems as if the • Line 20: “me”
"shield" has "cracked," leaving him vulnerable to • Line 21: “As if,” “shield”
other illnesses (and, in fact, to death). • Line 22: “me”
• Finally and desperately, he tries to "shield" his own • Line 23: “As if”
body by wrapping his arms around it, even though
he knows he can't protect it now (and therefore
can't save himself, because he is his body). VOCABULARY
The word "reduced" also repeats twice in two lines (15-16), Prospered (Line 2) - Flourished; thrived (here suggesting these
with subtly different shades of meaning: "dreams" were enjoyable).
Residue (Line 3) - Remnants; a substance left over from a
My mind reduced to hurry, process. (Here referring to the sweat that's soaked the
My flesh reduced and wrecked. speaker's sheets during his sleep.)

The speaker's mind has been figur

figurativ
atively
ely reduced, its Gashed (Line 6) - Cut or broken open.
complexities simplified down to constant "hurry" and worry. His Robust (Line 10) - Strong, vigorous, and/or resilient.
flesh, or body, has been physically reduced; he's wasting away Cannot but be (Line 13) - Can't help being; can't not be.
due to HIV/AIDS. The asyndeton (the lack of any coordinating
Reduced (Lines 15-16) - Diminished in size, vitality, power, etc.
conjunction) between these lines makes them feel more
The speaker's mind has been metaphorically diminished (so
concise and matter-of-fact, adding to the poem's solemn,
that it seems to contain only the "hurry" of anxiety); his body
resigned tone.
has physically diminished (gotten thinner).
The poem is filled with more structural repetitions as well. In the
Avalanche (Line 24) - A large, potentially deadly accumulation
lines quoted above, for instance, note the anaphor
anaphoraa of "My" and
of snow, ice, and rock sliding down a mountain slope. (Here, a
broader grammatical par parallelism
allelism ("My [mind/flesh] reduced").
metaphor for the disaster of terminal HIV/AIDS, or for death
This anaphora/parallelism appears throughout the entire poem,
itself.)
in fact, as the speaker begins every single sentence with either
"I" or "My." "I" also begins four lines while "My" begins three:
FORM, METER, & RHYME
My flesh was its own shield:
[...] FORM
My mind reduced to hurry,
"The Man with Nights Sweats" alternates between quatr
quatrains
ains
My flesh reduced and wrecked.
(which rhyme ABAB) with rhyming couplets
couplets. For example,
stanza 1 is a quatrain:
These repetitions underline the speaker's deep concern for his
body—something he once assumed could take care of
I wake up cold, I who
itself—now that he's seriously ill. They also suggest his
Prospered through dreams of heat
attachment to his "mind" and self, and his fear that death will
Wake to their residue,
destroy them prematurely.
Sweat, and a clinging sheet.

Where Repetition appears in the poem:

And stanza 2 is a couplet:

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My flesh was its own shield: ABAB CC DEDE FF GHGH II JKJK LL
Where it was gashed, it healed. The quatrains allow a bit of space for reflection, which the
rhymed couplets then punctuate with crisp observations such
There are four quatrains and four couplets in all, for a total of as "My flesh was its own shield
shield: / Where it was gashed, it
24 lines. healed
healed" (lines 5-6).
Overall, this is a fairly strict form. The short lines and regular Ultimately, the poem builds to a memorable couplet about
rhymes make the poem feel tightly contained, reflecting the suffering and death (the metaphorical "avalanche"). This is the
speaker's attempt to contain himself emotionally and even only slant-rh
slant-rhymed
ymed couplet in the poem (though there are other
physically (as when he's "Hugging my body," line 20). slant rhymes in the quatrains). The "enough"/"off" pairing
Although the speaker's fear and anguish never burst out into provides a sense of closure without the satisfaction of a full
free vverse
erse, irregular stanzas
stanzas, etc., the reader can sense the rhyme, so it helps evoke both the finality and frustration of
volatile emotions threatening to disrupt the tidy formal surface. premature death.
The form even seems to be holding off such an outburst, much
as the speaker wishes he could "hold [...] off" the "avalanche" of
suffering and death (lines 23-24). SPEAKER
METER The speaker is never named or specifically identified; the title
describes him only as "The Man with Night Sweats." Night
The poem's meter is iambic trimeter
trimeter, meaning that its lines
sweats are a common symptom of acute HIV infection, and
typically consist of three iambs (metrical units consisting of an
Gunn's collection The Man with Night Sweats elegizes friends
unstressed followed by a stressed syllable). In other words, its
and others lost to the AIDS crisis, so it's fair to assume this
lines tend to follow a "da-DUM
DUM, da-DUM
DUM, da-DUM
DUM" rhythm,
speaker is HIV-positive.
with sporadic variations.
The label in the title is significant because it suggests that, in a
Readers can hear this pattern clearly in lines 11-12, for
terrible way, the disease is overtaking the man's previous
example:
identity. A man who previously lived a "robust" and exciting life
has become simply "The Man with Night Sweats." As he
A world | of won
won- | ders in
protests in lines 15-16, illness has "reduced" him in more ways
Each chal
chal- | lenge to | the skin
skin.
than one.
In lines 5-6, meanwhile, readers can hear variations in the A few clues in the poem hint at the nature of his current
pattern: experience:

My flesh | was its | own shield

shield: • He appears to be "wak[ing] up" at home, in a bed
Where it | was gashed
gashed, | it healed
healed. that he "ha[s] to change" himself, so he probably
hasn't been hospitalized.
The last two syllables of line 5 are more like a pair of strong • However, he laments that his "mind" has already
stresses (a spondee
spondee) than an iamb (although they could be read been "reduced to hurry" and his "flesh reduced and
wrecked." The progression of the disease has filled
as an iamb instead; it's ambiguous). The first two syllables of
him with anxiety (a sense of mental "hurry") and left
line 6 form a trochee
trochee, or a stressed syllable followed by an
him gaunt and unhealthy-looking ("reduced and
unstressed syllable.
wrecked").
Occasional spondaic or trochaic substitutions like these are • Already chronically ill, he anticipates worse "pains"
common in iambic verse. In general, metrical variations help to come, followed by the "avalanche" of acute
keep a poem's rhythm from becoming too dull and predictable. physical failure and death. (AIDS compromises the
They can also add meaningful emphasis; for example, the three immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to a
strong stresses that end line 5 help make the "shield" of flesh range of other diseases.)
sound stronger.
Thom Gunn was a gay man writing at a time when HIV/AIDS
RHYME SCHEME was devastating the gay community, both in the U.S. (where he
The poem alternates between quatr
quatrains
ains and couplets
couplets. The resided) and abroad. Though he lost many friends and loved
quatrains rh
rhyme
yme on alternating lines (ABAB), and the couplets ones to the disease, he remained healthy throughout this
rhyme as well (CC). Thus, the rh
rhyme
yme scheme of the poem as a period. In other words, this poem is a dramatic monologue; the
whole is: speaker is not the poet.

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT
SETTING
"The Man with Night Sweats" appeared at a time when AIDS
The setting appears to be the speaker's own bedroom. The was a terminal illness in most cases. Gunn's collection of the
speaker describes "wak[ing] up" with the bedsheet "clinging" to same title was published in 1992, by which time roughly
him, and later says that "I have to change the bed." This second 200,000 Americans had died of AIDS-related illnesses since
reference strongly suggests that the speaker is at home, rather the first U.S. cases were identified in the 1980s. U.S. deaths
than, say, in a hospital or hotel room. from HIV/AIDS peaked in 1995, then began declining
Accordingly, it seems that his illness hasn't progressed far substantially the following year, as the treatment called HAART
enough for him to be hospitalized. He is experiencing night (highly active antiretroviral therapy) became widespread. No
sweats, but he isn't yet suffering more severe symptoms of cure has been found to date, however, and over 36 million
HIV/AIDS ("The pains that will go through me"). However, given people have died from the epidemic since it began in the late
the extremely high mortality rate of HIV/AIDS patients at the 20th century.
time the poem was written, he is expecting his symptoms to The condition called AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency
worsen and his illness to be fatal. syndrome, results from infection with HIV, or the human
immunodeficiency virus. AIDS compromises the human
immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to a wide range of
CONTEXT other conditions, including fatal illnesses. The speaker of the
poem has several common symptoms of AIDS, including the
LITERARY CONTEXT "Night Sweats" of the title. The speaker's "wak[ing] up cold"
"The Man with Night Sweats" is the title poem of Thom Gunn's after "dreams of heat" may also indicate fever/chills, while "My
best-known collection. The Man with Night Sweats (1992) flesh reduced and wrecked" points to severe weight loss (HIV
appeared at the height of the U.S. HIV/AIDS crisis, several wasting syndrome) and any of various conditions that can
years before the first effective treatments for HIV infection affect the skin, such as bacterial infections or viral-induced
became widely available. cancers.
In 1992, AIDS was the leading cause of death for American Though not confined to any one population, HIV/AIDS has
men ages 25 to 44, and throughout the prior decade, its impact disproportionately impacted gay and bisexual male
on the U.S. gay community had been especially devastating. As communities, including the San Francisco-based gay
a gay man based in San Francisco, one of the epicenters of the community in which Gunn was immersed for most of his adult
epidemic, Gunn saw many friends die from the disease. life. Because mainstream U.S. culture largely stigmatized and/
or ignored AIDS sufferers in the early years of the epidemic,
The Man with Night Sweats contains elegies for some of the
the period in which The Man with Night Sweats appeared saw an
loved ones he lost, along with other personal poems. In addition
explosion of AIDS-related activism.
to the title poem, which is framed as a dramatic monologue
from the perspective of an AIDS sufferer, famous pieces from The AIDS epidemic also featured prominently in other
the collection include "The
The Hug
Hug" and "Lament
Lament." landmark works from these years, including Larry Kramer's
play The Normal Heart (1985), Randy Shilts's nonfiction
Published to wide acclaim the year Gunn turned 63, The Man
chronicle And the Band Played On (1987), Tony Kushner's play
With Night Sweats was one of the later products of a long and
Angels in America (1991-1992), and the film Philadelphia (1993).
wide-ranging career. Gunn (1929-2004) was born in England
and became associated, as a younger writer, with the circle of
post-WWII English writers known as "The Movement." This
circle, whose other notable figures included Philip Larkin and
MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES
Kingsley Amis, tended to avoid the experimental practices of EXTERNAL RESOURCES
the previous, "modernist" generation of Anglo-American
writers. • The PPoet's
oet's Life and W
Work
ork — Read a biography of Thom
Gunn at the Poetry Foundation.
Gunn then moved to San Francisco in his mid-20s, where he (https:/
(https://www
/www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thom-gunn)
.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thom-gunn)
became loosely associated with a very different poetry
movement: the freewheeling "San Francisco Renaissance" of • More on Gunn
Gunn's
's Life — A biography of Gunn at Poets.org.
the 1950s and 1960s. As his career progressed, Gunn became (https:/
(https:///poets.org/poet/thom-gunn)
known for his skillful blending of conventionally British and • A Discussion of Gunn and Bishop — Watch author Colm
American styles and subjects, as well as his equal aptitude with Tóibín discussing the poetry of Thom Gunn and Elizabeth
free vverse
erse and traditional verse (i.e., the kind of meter and Bishop. (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/
rh
rhyme
yme found in "The Man with Night Sweats"). watch?v=EdiY
watch?v=EdiYwX wXwU790)
wU790)

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• Gunn: A Retrospectiv
Retrospectivee — Read Gunn's 2004 obituary in
the New York Times. (Registration required.) HOW T
TO
O CITE
(https:/
(https://www
/www.n
.nytimes.com/2004/04/28/books/thom-
ytimes.com/2004/04/28/books/thom-
gunn-74-poet-who-left-tr
gunn-74-poet-who-left-tradition-for-the-
adition-for-the- MLA
counterculture.html)
Allen, Austin. "The Man with Night Sweats." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC,
• The San F Frrancisco Renaissance — Read an introduction to 20 Apr 2022. Web. 27 Apr 2022.
the San Francisco Renaissance, the post-WWII poetic
movement with which Gunn is sometimes associated. CHICAGO MANUAL
(https:/
(https:///poets.org/te
poets.org/text/brief-guide-san-fr
xt/brief-guide-san-francisco-
ancisco- Allen, Austin. "The Man with Night Sweats." LitCharts LLC, April 20,
renaissance
renaissance)) 2022. Retrieved April 27, 2022. https://www.litcharts.com/
poetry/thom-gunn/the-man-with-night-sweats.
• An HIV
HIV/AIDS
/AIDS Timeline — Historical context for the HIV/
AIDS epidemic in the U.S., courtesy of HIV.gov.
(https:/
(https://www
/www.hiv
.hiv.go
.govv/hiv-basics/o
/hiv-basics/ovverview/history
erview/history/hiv-and-
/hiv-and-
aids-timeline
aids-timeline))

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