a slumber did my spirit structure

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Poem

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.

Introduction

            A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal is one of the five Lucy poems written by the great romantic poet William Wordsworth. It was first published in the volume Lyrical Ballads that Wordsworth co-authored with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This volume was written in 1798 and published in 1800. This is a poem about Wordsworth’s deep love for his beloved and his reaction to her sudden and untimely death.

            Wordsworth had experienced some harsh realities of life like the French Revolution, the War between France and England, etc., hence this poem holds the spirit of Escapism from city life to the elemental nature which, for the poet, is an ideal place. Through this poem, Wordsworth describes an appreciation of life beyond death.

About William Wordsworth

          William Wordsworth was one of the founders of English Romanticism. He was born in Cockermouth, Cumbria on April 7, 1770. P. B. Shell another great poet of romanticism called him Poet of Nature. Wordsworth along with Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads in 1798 in which he defined poetry as,

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling.”

            Imagination, Nature, Subjectivity, and Humanism are the basic theme of Wordsworth’s poetry. During his long poetic career, he wrote a large number of poems among which – Tintern Abbey, The Daffodils, The Solitary Reaper, Lucy Poems, and Lyrical Ballads are well known. Like all great romantic poetry, his poetry is a record of his inner experiences.

Structure Of The Poem

            A Slumber did my Spirit seal is a short two-stanza poem made up of two quatrains, or sets of four lines. The rhyme scheme of this beautiful poem is ABAB CDCD which gives it an even more enchanting touch. The second and fourth line of each stanza contains six syllables, while the first and third contains eight.

The Theme of the Poem

            In the poem, A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal, the poet expresses his views after the death of his beloved. He is deeply grieved and troubled by the death of his beloved. He is deeply grieved and troubled by the depth of his beloved. He has gone numb but in his numbness, he realizes that he needs to move on and accept his fate. He realizes that death is inevitable and he needs to accept the fact that his beloved is no more.

            He shows the readers understand that even after death, his beloved or all our beloved dead people are alive as a part of nature. They are free from worldly affairs and are immortal.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Poem Analysis

            In the first stanza, the poet says that he has put to rest his conscience and thus has no Human Fears. Human fears mean the fear of losing property, belongings, and life. Now having given up all such things that give birth to human fears he has now attained peace in nature. The poet talks about Lucy who is according to the poet, beyond the prison of life and has attained death.

            She does not feel the earthly time and earthly years have become timeless for her. Thus she is immortal now and it is Lucy because of whom the poet has attained fearlessness from earthly fears.

            In the second stanza, Wordsworth says that being immortal, she has no movement or energy. She neither does hear something nor sees. She has become part of the earth and is rolling with it as it turns from day to night and vice versa.

            Lucy is in her grave, covered with soil, and is under the shade of the trees. Thus the poet considers her to be in the lap of nature which is an ideal place. By narrating the story of the immortal Lucy, he appreciates the fearlessness of death which is not the root cause of human sorrows and worries.

Conclusion

            Thus, through the poem A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Wordsworth desires that he should attain the same peace as Lucy after becoming part of nature. Wordsworth describes becoming a part of nature and for becoming, so death is a must.

            So, William Wordsworth conveys the message that Death is Inevitable. Nobody is beyond the reach of death.

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