In the night vs. into the night

In the night is standard. Into the night is more poetic and implies some sort of journey.

Would you please give me a couple of examples? Thank you.

Lyrics from two songs.

In the night she hears him calling
In the night she's dancing to relieve the pain
She'll never walk away (I don't think you understand)
In the night when she comes crawling

https://genius.com/The-weeknd-in-the-night-lyrics

This usage shows events that happen during, (in) the night.

Like a gift from the heavens, it was easy to tell
It was love from above, like it saved me from hell
She had fire in her soul, it was easy to see how the devil himself could be pulled out of me
There were drums in the air as she started to dance
Every soul in the room keeping time with their hands and we sang

Ay oh ay oh ay oh ay
And the voices rang like the angels sing
We're singing, ay oh ay oh ay oh ay
And we danced on into the night
Ay oh ay oh, ay oh ay oh
And we danced on into the night

Like a piece to the puzzle that falls into place
You could tell how we felt from the look on her face
She was spinning in circles with the moon in her eyes
The room left them moving between you and I
We forgot where we were, and we lost track of time
And we…



https://genius.com/Santana-into-the-night-lyrics

This time, into the night denotes a journey, one which begins with them meeting. It not only happens in the night it happens throughout the night and possibly beyond.

in the night = during the night

into the night is used when one describes an action. The tiger disappeared into the night.

Google these two phrases and you might start to see a pattern.

"In the night" is a time, "into the night" is a place.

Excellent point, Engineer.