Explore how Lowell has used imagery in the first part of the poem.

Robert Lowell in his confessional poem, ‘Night Sweat’, reveals his most intimate
thoughts and feelings while he is going through a writer’s block. Regarded as a
double sonnet that is both a Shakespearean Sonnet in the first fourteen lines and a
Petrarchan Sonnet in the other half, the use of vivid imagery by the poet who himself
is the speaker reflects his sufferings in the most poignant way making the readers
understand his state. In the following paragraphs the use of imagery throughout the
poem is explored and analysed.
The poem begins with a setting of what can be considered as the poet’s study, a
dark and mundane room. The poet sitting at his “work-table" surrounded by the
“litter” of his work: assorted pens, paper, maybe a typewriter, scrunched up notes
tossed aside or crumpled up pieces of paper littered on the floor just like his thoughts
littered his mind. This is his creative space – but he’s struggling for ideas,
represented by “stalled equipment”, maybe his pen or typewriter – or his brain – is
stuck. There are “plain things” referring to the simple implements of a writer’s craft;
but “plain” metaphorically implies the blankness of white paper and a “standing lamp”
that’s not going anywhere. Also, it can be metaphorically assumed as something that
gives him hope in the form of light. He’s “living in a tidied room” which is neat, but a
bit too neat, mundane and ordinary. This confusion in his thoughts is evident
suggesting the use of anti climax, as he earlier says that the room is littered but then
next sentence he says the room is tidied. The first two or three lines are halting and
timid, broken up with frequent caesura, as if his thoughts are fragmented and
incomplete. So far the poem is no more than a list of stationary objects lacking in
action. Lowell seems to be suffering from a kind of ‘writer’s block’ – he can’t find the
right words, is stuck for ideas, or too anxious to write unselfconsciously.

Once “night” surrounds him, he is gripped by the prickle of a feverish sweat

personified as “creeping” up on him from out of nowhere. Droplets bead his skin,
“wilting white pyjamas”. Although the use of alliteration provides rhythm to the poem,
that faded white colour of pyjamas depicts an empty colour again. Whatever this
condition is – a dream, a panic attack, a bout of madness – it has a profound effect
on both his body and mind and it has been the condition for ten nights now. As the
night sweat seizes him, and covers his body in an oxymoronically described “sweet
salt”, the poem becomes suddenly active. Several words that suggest movement
“creeping”, “float” and “wilting” are used in quick succession. His poetry gathers pace
and energy, creating the impression that he’s been somehow unblocked or
unclogged. Whereas the opening couple of lines were halting, now they flow one into
the next using enjambment. This image of chaos and anxiety is suddenly broken
when gripped by this mysterious condition, he actually feels clarity and conviction,
“everything streams and tells me this is right”. It's here that it feels like his only
ambition in life to create, to really write, is almost within touching distance. Yet, he
feels depressed as he describes life as a “downward glide” and feels like “existing
wrings us dry”, a phrase conveying a sense of exhaustion with the world. The idea
that his writing obsession involves self-sacrifice keeps bobbing to the surface of the
poem. “Life’s fever” and “the animal night sweat of the spirit burn” are both images
communicating the pain of obsession with writing and suggesting his own life energy
is being consumed by his ambition. The word “animal” implies that his driving force is
deep, instinctive, and powerful; he understands it’s not logical, but is powerless to
resist when the impulse to create is so strong. When his sweat dries on his skin, he
uses the word “embalms”, meaning ‘to preserve a corpse from decay’ and he feels
like he’s burning up inside a sacrificial urn. We feel this looming danger of him
drowning in the darkness of death. His condition seems grimmer when he confesses
that the metaphorical child inside him has already died suggesting that he has lost all
the cheer and energy in his life.

The first half of the poem completely succeeds in giving us the impression that
Lowell is in a helpless condition where he feels as if darkness is engulfing him with
the sweat soaking up his only ambition of writing. The poet vividly describes the
imagery and we feel sympathetic to the poet's condition and get involved in his
anxious world and want to know what would happen with them further.

The last part of this double sonnet is the transition from night to day and is marked
by a strange, ambiguous cry by Lowell, seemingly directed straight at his wife who
entered his room as break of dawn. Just like sunshine brings hope, his wife brought
a ray of hope, a promise to support him through his dark days. As this part begins,
the poem is marked by “Behind me! You!”, a bizarre, jarring moment with the short,
sharp exclamations. It depicts how the poet is pleasantly startled by the presence of
his wife in the room as he might have just woken up after a sleepless, traumatic
night. Using alliteration in “light lighten my leaded eyelids” the poet depicts how his
eyes have blackened and are heavy with sleeplessness. He’s so tired his eyelids feel
too heavy to lift. As he lies in bed trying to recuperate, he mentions his wet clothes
discarded in a heap and describes them with the clever word, “seamy” which means
unpleasant. The light flooding in his room is overwhelming, in his shattered and
exhausted state the penetrating daylight and the arrival of his wife makes his “child
exploding in dynamite”. This is a sudden and shocking moment which fuels the idea
that the mysterious child who keeps cropping up in the poem is his inner self, which
is now vivacious again. He is getting his creative energy back again. However, his
past traumatic nights as metaphorically presented by the word gray skulled horses
that try to pull him back into darkness.Thereafter he expresses his gratitude for his
wife. He says she tears the “black webs” that are metaphorically his mental
impediments. Moreover, the “spider’s sack” is a reference to the “subconscious
mind”. Also, the poet uses a simile “hops and flutters like a hare” to compare her to a
hare for depicting her energy and spontaneity.In the last few lines of ‘Night Sweat’,
Furthermore, Lowell metaphorically addresses his wife as a “poor turtle” and
requests her to absolve him from this stagnancy. Moreover, the poet refers to the
tortoise’s hard shell as a “dead weight” and compares it to responsibilities. She does
her part unquestionably. For this reason, the poet counts on her in the hard times of
his life. In the last couple of lines of the poem we see the most helpless and
desperate part of Lowell who pleads and begs his wife for her support that would sail
him through his writer’s block phase.
To sum it up, Robert Lowell in his double sonnet expresses how this dark,
unproductive phase of his life was eating his thoughts. Moreover, he also expresses
gratitude for his wife through this poem for being the only person who was constantly
there to help him recover from depression.