Night on Bald Mountain 25 December 1858, has been interpreted as an indication of Mussorgsky's intent to write an opera on the subject of Gogol's short story "St. John's Eve" (, "Vecher nakanune Ivana Kupala", "St. John's Eve"). Gogol's tale contains the elements of witchcraft common to other stories in the "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" collection, but does not feature a witches' sabbath. No further plans for this project were mentioned. The theme of a witches' sabbath, the central theme in all subsequent "Night on Bald Mountain" projects, appears to have been derived from the nonextant play "The Witch" (, "Ved′ma") by
Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day five and nine, as well as the erasures before "sunshine" and "above" suggest that the poem was written hastily. One interpretation by Winidred Gerin says that in the poem "emotion and expression have achieved a fusion as felicitous as it is rare in Brontë's writing, is probably the best poem she ever wrote, though not the most characteristic". The poem is based upon an actual experience of Brontë's. A note stating "Composed in the Long-Plantation on a wild bright windy day", was written in Anne Brontë's hand at the bottom of the manuscript and the "Long-Plantation" was identified by Edward