Written some time after the poet was forced to marry the daughter of the Sultan of Langkat instead of his chosen love in Java, this collection consists of 24 titled poems and pieces of lyrical prose, none of which are dated.

Despite this, Nyanyi Sunyi has been described as freer in its form than traditional Malay poetry, with what poet Chairil Anwar termed "compactly violent, sharp, and yet short"[1] sentences which brought a new style to the Indonesian language.

[5] The time was one of great emotional turmoil for Hamzah, who was required to marry the daughter of the Sultan of Langkat, who had funded his studies in Java.

[a][14] Translator John M. Echols writes that the poems are "difficult reading even for Indonesians",[3] while poet Chairil Anwar described the works as "obscure poetry" which could not be understood by persons without an understanding of Islam and Malay history.

[1] Indonesian literary scholar Muhammad Balfas notes that the work also has many allusions to religious texts, both Islamic and Christian.

[17] Anwar opined that Amir, through Nyanyi Sunyi, brought a new style to the Indonesian language, with its "compactly violent, sharp, and yet short" sentences.

[1] In a 1945 article he wrote (translation by Raffel), "Before Amir (Hamzah) one could call the old poetry a destructive force; but what a bright light he shone on the new language".

[21] Teeuw likewise notes a sense of dissatisfaction throughout the poems, writing that Amir seems to treat God as an entity that "only toys with humans, allowing them to be pushed aside and erased".

[13] Indonesian critic Zuber Usman, meanwhile, discusses the theme of love lost in relation to religion, writing that the loss of his Javanese lover led Amir closer to God.

[6] Ultimately, however, Jassin concludes that Amir's soul has not reached maturity; he considers the collection's last poem, "Astana Rela", as but a temporary escape.

[25] Jassin finds that the theme of religion is likewise meant as an escape from Amir's worldly sorrows,[26] an opinion echoed by Usman.