In the poem Night Wind by Christopher Dewdney, the twilight breeze is used to illustrate a persons journey through the past, the present and, the future.

The first stanza utilizes enjambment and run-on sentences to (like the wind) flow with ease and little hindrance. There is no rhyme scheme in the first stanza to show that the wind cannot be controlled. It is a force of nature subject to immediate and irrational changes. The narrator, is in first person so, it is a recounting of a previous event or life. The passage begins to show mystery or perhaps fond reminiscence at the previous experiences of this person. And, as the wind begins to blow "in the trees, /deeper into each" (4/5) it becomes a more desperate and rushing force. The tone of the poem becomes agitated and hurried as it "races without burden"(10), it moves "Restlessly"(9) and "impatiently"(9). Perhaps the reason for the rushing of the wind is anxiety or a certain limit of time. This increases the intensity of the poem and brings a crisis at the beginning.

The word through appears 3 times within the first two stanzas implying that no force can stop the wind. It merely pays no heed and rushes through on its way. Dewdney wrote that the wind "implores" (11) the subject through walls. This represents a simple but firm request. It shows that perhaps the wind desperately wants the character to follow and that it is impossible for a barrier to restrict him/her. But upon bringing the subject through walls, it "claims me inside buildings" (12). This shows domination the wind (if it had not had it before) now has complete domination. The description of the wind as an "empire" (13) shows it power and dominance. It is an expanding force that holds the captive with an iron fist. However, the action of the empire is not one of conquest or war, but a retreat. Perhaps the dominance of the wind is a peaceful one. The assonance between the words "deliverance" (14) and "dark" (15) shows the closeness and similarities of the two things. The wind is finding refuge in the shadows. Enjambment is used once again to show the swiftness of the wind rushing through the "Oaks/ that wrestle the gusty twilight"(15/16)