The form of “Dawn” is simple: a single quatrain, four lines, that quietly, unobtrusively tackles the drama of a sunrise involving nothing less than the cooperative actions of a mischievous angel and a sleeping being. It is in the irony of form versus subject matter that the poem offers its thematic elements. The position of the poet is humbled against the play of such titanic forces. The poet plays no role in Dawn’s stirring into life. The poet is an observer who shares with a reader a sense of cosmological drama and grand theater in a modest form. Dunbar does not try to elevate the poem by showing off with extravagant formal bravado. He understands the role of the poet is not just to look at the gorgeous blush of the dawn sky but to see it for what it is—a magnificent show of mysterious forces. A simple formal structure, thus, underscores both the poet’s sense of limited input in the face of such power and the poet’s amazement about the display.

The line “Night woke to blush” (Line 3) is both simple in logic and complex in its implications.