A quick journey through a famous poem by William Wordsworth. You can know more and learn easily about the poem. More easy to get close with the great poet of the Elizabethan Romantic Era.
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A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal William Wordsworth
About the Poet- William Wordsworth
About the Poem " A slumber did my spirit seal" is a poem written by William Wordsworth in 1798 and published in the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads . It is usually included as one of his Lucy poems, although it is the only poem of the series not to mention her name.
Background of the Poem During the autumn of 1798, Wordsworth travelled to Germany with his sister Dorothy and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. From October 1798, Wordsworth worked on the first drafts for his "Lucy poems". which included "Strange fits of passion have I known", "She dwelt among the untrodden ways" and "A slumber ".
Background of the Poem In December 1798, Wordsworth sent copies of "Strange fits" and "She dwelt" to Coleridge and followed his letter with "A slumber". Eventually, "A slumber", was published in the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads .
Background of the Poem Unique amongst Lucy poems, "A slumber" does not directly mention Lucy. The decision by critics to include the poem as part of the series is based in part on Wordsworth's placing it in close proximity to "Strange fits" and directly after "She dwelt" in the Lyrical Ballads .
THE POEM A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years .
No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees.
THE STANZAS IN DETAIL A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years . In the first of the poem's two stanzas, the speaker declares that a "slumber" has kept him from realizing reality. In essence, he has been in a dream-like state, devoid of any common fears. To the speaker, "she" seemed like she would never age
Key- Points My Spirit : The poet’s power of realizing the reality. Human Fears : Common fears of pain, sorrow and death faced by man. The touch of earthly years : The human attribute of growing older with the passage of time.
No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees. In the second and final stanza, however, we learn that she has died. She lies still and can no longer see or hear. She has become a part of the day-to-day course of the earth
Key- Points Earth’s Diurnal Course : Earth’s daily rotation. With rocks, stones and trees : Along with all the material wealth of earth; a part of earth.