In Kizer's "Night Sounds," what situation and impressions are brought about by these words in the first stanza: "moonlight," "weeping,"...

Generally, the first paragraph of a short story or novel
can set the mood immediately, and with a poem (and often its title) I find the same
thing happens.

In Carolyn Kizer's melancholy "Night
Sounds," the words from the first stanza (moonlight, weeping, nightmares, tinged,
terror, and nostalgia) set the mood of the poem.

There is
sadness or fear associated with each word as follows: "nightmares" and "terror" speak to
the fear that often comes in the middle of the night. And while this poem may come from
the voice of a woman (a woman would be thought to generally ask her lover to "hold me"),
I still get a strong sense that there is something of a child within her, looking for
comfort during the late evening hours.

Two other words,
"weeping" and "nostalgia," offer up emotions of sadness. These things are always worse
at night. However, the final two words provide a sense of hope or survival. Moonlight is
a beacon when the night with its bad dreams and loneliness can make the wee hours of the
morning passable. The word "tinge" also offers some hope in that it means that something
is only slightly "colored" or "affected" by something else, and in this case if these
elements of fear or loneliness only tinge the night, we would expect that the speaker
will make it through the long night.

In summary, the words
listed set the mood: we (as readers) can expect that there will be some fear, loneliness
and sadness in the poem, but perhaps hope as well.