This essay focuses on Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s poem Durchwachte Nacht, first published in 1846. Although the poem has often been analyzed, the radical subjectivist character of the poem’s persona has been overlooked up to now. By comparing Durchwachte Nacht with other poems by Droste-Hülshoff, and with the literary tradition of poetic vigils, the striking secular character of the poem becomes evident. Two questions need to be answered. Firstly: How can the person describing her long sleepless night get up from her bed fully recovered at day break? Could this be the effect of the unexpected appearance of the „schönes Kind“ during the speaker’s day dreaming? And if so, what does this child represent and what does its appearance mean? In my reading, Durchwachte Nacht is a lyrical reflection about the creative genius, a text in which the author abandons the religious tradition in favour of an almost Dionysian hymn on artistic creation.