--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The sun sank with a sob and darkness…" description: "\"The sun sank with a sob and darkness waded in from all horizons so that the sky contracted and there was no more light left in the world, when, at this..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/118/mervyn-peake-2927_annihilation_the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-wad_2722117.jpg" --- # The sun sank with a sob and darkness waded in from all… ![“The sun sank with a sob and darkness waded in from all horizons so that the sky contracted and there was no more light left in the world, when, at this very moment of annihilation, the moon, as though she had been waiting for her cue, sailed up the night.” quote by Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/118/mervyn-peake-2927_annihilation_the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-wad_2722117.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/118/mervyn-peake-2927_annihilation_the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-wad_2722117.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/118/mervyn-peake-2927_annihilation_the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-wad_2722117.jpg) > “The sun sank with a sob and darkness waded in from all horizons so that the sky contracted and there was no more light left in the world, when, at this very moment of annihilation, the moon, as though she had been waiting for her cue, sailed up the night.” [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The world darkens as the sun dies, but the moon rises, symbolizing hope amid destruction. **In simple terms:** Darkness falls, moon offers hope. Key Takeaway Seek light in bleak times. Themes hope destruction light renewal Mood melancholic hopeful Type literary poetic When to use this quote - nighttime reflection - crisis management - spiritual renewal Key Concepts symbolism contrast natural cycles Questions to Reflect On - What anchors you when darkness surrounds? - How can you become a source of light for others? A Different Perspective Hope may feel fleeting against overwhelming loss. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Annihilation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation/) [Annihilation Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation-moon-2889359/) [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Darkness Waded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness-waded-2889357/) [Horizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horizon/) [Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moon/) [Moon Waiting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moon-waiting-1960426/) [Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night/) [Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky/) [Sob Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sob-darkness-2889358/) [Sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sun/) [Sun Sank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sun-sank-1156205/) [Waiting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waiting/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [A full moon is waiting in the twilight Maybe soon you will come to be my knight Here we are Hoping that we never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kimmy/a-full-moon-is-waiting-in-the-twilight-maybe-soon-you-will-come-to-be/) [Kimmy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kimmy/) > [A few melancholy birds were pipping and wailing, until the round red sun sank slowly into the western shadows; then an empty silence fell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-few-melancholy-birds-were-pipping-and-wailing-until-the-round-red/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It was evening. The sun was below the horizon; but his rosy beams yet illuminated a feathery cloud, that floated high above the world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-macdonald/it-was-evening-the-sun-was-below-the-horizon-but-his-rosy-beams-yet/) [George MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-macdonald/) > [“Later that day, shortly before the sun sank in the wintry sky, despite the best efforts of the medics, Arra Sails closed her eyes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darren-shan/later-that-day-shortly-before-the-sun-sank-in-the-wintry-sky-despite/) [Darren Shan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darren-shan/) > [“The track curved and now it was going away from the sun, which as it sank lower, seemed to spread itself in benediction over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/the-track-curved-and-now-it-was-going-away-from-the-sun-which-as-it/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [Each night the sun sank right in our eyes along the sea, making an undulating glittering pathway, a golden track charted on the surface…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-beesley/each-night-the-sun-sank-right-in-our-eyes-along-the-sea-making-an/) [Lawrence Beesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-beesley/) > [“As the sun sank lower in the sky and the shadows lengthened around us, I slowly came to realize that Ash wasn't coming back.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-kagawa/as-the-sun-sank-lower-in-the-sky-and-the-shadows-lengthened-around-us/) [Julie Kagawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-kagawa/) > [“And at last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and from glowing white changed to a dull red without rays…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/and-at-last-in-its-curved-and-imperceptible-fall-the-sun-sank-low-and/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“And the purple parted before it, snapping back like skin after a slash, and what it let out wasn't blood but light: amazing orange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/and-the-purple-parted-before-it-snapping-back-like-skin-after-a-slash/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [“We found, before the hands of the dial had taught us the lapse of a week, that this would be something not to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-prescott-spofford/we-found-before-the-hands-of-the-dial-had-taught-us-the-lapse-of-a/) [Harriet Prescott Spofford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-prescott-spofford/) > [“The breath had become as much a trick as breathing. Things were not dual merely, but multiple. I had become a cage of mirrors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/the-breath-had-become-as-much-a-trick-as-breathing-things-were-not/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [I'm not afraid of anything other than spiritual annihilation. Where your soul is sucked into the void.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crispian-mills/i-m-not-afraid-of-anything-other-than-spiritual-annihilation-where/) [Crispian Mills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crispian-mills/) > [To fight is to face death once more, perhaps the total annihilation of their kind. But to run... is that not also a kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nalini-singh/to-fight-is-to-face-death-once-more-perhaps-the-total-annihilation-of/) [Nalini Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nalini-singh/) > [The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health; that is, the lifting and annihilation of the disease in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-hahnemann/the-highest-ideal-of-cure-is-the-rapid-gentle-and-permanent/) [Samuel Hahnemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-hahnemann/) > [The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe... All is registered in the 'boundless heart' of the bodhisattva. Through our deepest and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-the-whole-universe-all-is/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) ## More by Mervyn Peake > [Gormenghast, that is, the main massing of the original stone, taken by itself would have displayed a certain ponderous architectural quality were it possible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/gormenghast-that-is-the-main-massing-of-the-original-stone-taken-by/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [Through her, in microcosm, the wide earth sobbed. The starglobe sank in her; the colours faded. The death-dew rose and the wild birds in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/through-her-in-microcosm-the-wide-earth-sobbed-the-starglobe-sank-in/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“Behind him she saw something which by contrast with the alien incalculable figure before her, was close and real. It was something which she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/behind-him-she-saw-something-which-by-contrast-with-the-alien/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“If seeing her an hour before her last Weak cough into all blackness I could yet Be held by chalk-white walls - The Consumptive.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/if-seeing-her-an-hour-before-her-last-weak-cough-into-all-blackness-i/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“He knew that he was caught up in one of those stretches of time when for anything to happen normally would be abnormal. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/he-knew-that-he-was-caught-up-in-one-of-those-stretches-of-time-when/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“Would you be so kind as to remove your redundant carcass from the door of this room, my man,’ he said, in his high,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/would-you-be-so-kind-as-to-remove-your-redundant-carcass-from-the/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [What is Time... That you speak of it so subserviently? Are we to be the slaves of the sun, that second-hand, overrated knob of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/what-is-time-that-you-speak-of-it-so-subserviently-are-we-to-be-the/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“He could now inhabit the world of words, with, at the back of his melancholy, a solace he had not known before”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/he-could-now-inhabit-the-world-of-words-with-at-the-back-of-his/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“He had emptied the bright goblet of romance; at a single gulp he had emptied it. The glass of it lay scattered on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/he-had-emptied-the-bright-goblet-of-romance-at-a-single-gulp-he-had/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“I want a big breakfast," said Fuchsia at last. "I want a lot to eat, I'm going to think today.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/i-want-a-big-breakfast-said-fuchsia-at-last-i-want-a-lot-to-eat-i-m/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“Before it had awoke to die on the instant of its waking, a score of bells and clocks had shouted midday and for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/before-it-had-awoke-to-die-on-the-instant-of-its-waking-a-score-of/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“Gormenghast. Withdrawn and ruinous it broods in umbra: the immemorial masonry: the towers, the tracts. Is all corroding? No. Through an avenue of spires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/gormenghast-withdrawn-and-ruinous-it-broods-in-umbra-the-immemorial/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“I do not understand your love,' he said.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/i-do-not-understand-your-love-he-said/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [ \[Peake's books\] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/peake-s-books-are-actual-additions-to-life-they-give-like-certain/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [Why break the heart that never beat from love?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/why-break-the-heart-that-never-beat-from-love/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) [Explore all 143 Mervyn Peake quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) ## More Annihilation quotes > [The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe... All is registered in the 'boundless heart' of the bodhisattva. Through our deepest and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-the-whole-universe-all-is/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health; that is, the lifting and annihilation of the disease in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-hahnemann/the-highest-ideal-of-cure-is-the-rapid-gentle-and-permanent/) [Samuel Hahnemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-hahnemann/) > [To fight is to face death once more, perhaps the total annihilation of their kind. But to run... is that not also a kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nalini-singh/to-fight-is-to-face-death-once-more-perhaps-the-total-annihilation-of/) [Nalini Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nalini-singh/) > [I'm not afraid of anything other than spiritual annihilation. Where your soul is sucked into the void.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crispian-mills/i-m-not-afraid-of-anything-other-than-spiritual-annihilation-where/) [Crispian Mills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crispian-mills/) > [“The breath had become as much a trick as breathing. Things were not dual merely, but multiple. I had become a cage of mirrors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/the-breath-had-become-as-much-a-trick-as-breathing-things-were-not/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,--when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-chopin/there-were-days-when-she-was-unhappy-she-did-not-know-why-when-it-did/) [Kate Chopin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-chopin/) > [I've crossed some kind of invisible line. I feel as if I've come to a place I never thought I'd have to come to.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-carver/i-ve-crossed-some-kind-of-invisible-line-i-feel-as-if-i-ve-come-to-a/) [Raymond Carver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-carver/) > [We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on it's vulnerable reserves of air and soil, all committed, for our safety, to it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adlai-e-stevenson/we-travel-together-passengers-on-a-little-spaceship-dependent-on-it-s/) [Adlai E. Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adlai-e-stevenson/) > [Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/liberty-is-to-faction-what-air-is-to-fire-an-aliment-without-which-it/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [Today I will once more be a prophet. If the international Jewish financiers, inside and outside Europe, succeed in plunging the nations once more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/today-i-will-once-more-be-a-prophet-if-the-international-jewish/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [“The edge of total annihilation wasn't the worst place to hide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kit-rocha/the-edge-of-total-annihilation-wasn-t-the-worst-place-to-hide/) [Kit Rocha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kit-rocha/) > [To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/to-hope-is-to-give-yourself-to-the-future-and-that-commitment-to-the/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Annihilation is an absurdity in terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-palissy/annihilation-is-an-absurdity-in-terms/) [Bernard Palissy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-palissy/) > [Love is scary because it pulls you in with an intense force, a supermassive black hole which looks like nothing from the outside but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/love-is-scary-because-it-pulls-you-in-with-an-intense-force-a/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [I have issued the command, and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad, that our war…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/i-have-issued-the-command-and-i-ll-have-anybody-who-utters-but-one/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) [Browse all 244 Annihilation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The sun sank with a sob and darkness waded in from all horizons so that the sky contracted and there was no more light left in the world, when, at this very moment of annihilation, the moon, as though she had been waiting for her cue, sailed up the night.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mervyn Peake" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-waded-in-from-all-horizons-so/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Annihilation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-waded-in-from-all-horizons-so/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/118/mervyn-peake-2927_annihilation_the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-wad_2722117.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/118/mervyn-peake-2927_annihilation_the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-wad_2722117.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/118/mervyn-peake-2927_annihilation_the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-wad_2722117.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The sun sank with a sob and darkness waded in from all horizons so that the sky contracted and there was no…” — Mervyn Peake", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mervyn Peake", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The sun sank with a sob...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-waded-in-from-all-horizons-so/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/the-sun-sank-with-a-sob-and-darkness-waded-in-from-all-horizons-so/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```