This article examines the semantic relationship between the motif of night and human psychology in classical Eastern and Western literature through a comparative-semantic approach. The study explores the role of night not merely as a temporal or landscape element, but as an important poetic means of expressing loneliness, separation, longing, memory, fear, inner peace, love, and spiritual contemplation. The analysis is based on the works of Novalis and Emily Brontë as representatives of Western literature and on the poetry of Hafez Shirazi and Jalal al-Din Rumi as representatives of the classical Eastern tradition. The findings show that in Western literature, the motif of night is more closely associated with individual consciousness, memory, inner freedom, and psychological solitude, whereas in classical Eastern literature it is predominantly connected with separation, waiting for the beloved, longing, spiritual quest, and the desire for inner or spiritual closeness. The study also demonstrates that darkness does not always carry negative semantic meaning; in a number of literary texts, night becomes a source of inner peace, spiritual harmony, and intensified self-awareness. The article concludes that the motif of night functions as a universal semantic and poetic category whose psychological meanings vary according to specific literary and cultural traditions.

motif of night, human psychology, classical Eastern literature, Western literature, comparative-semantic analysis, loneliness, separation, longing, memory, spiritual contemplation, poetic image.

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