A SLUMBER DID MY SPIRIT

SEAL
-WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
MRS. S. JONATHAN
SPS-BEAWAR

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 THEME

• THE THEME OF A SLUMBER DID MY SPIRITS SEAL IS THE IDEA OF LIFE, DEATH,
AND LIFE AFTER DEATH. THE POEM, LIKE ALL LUCY POEMS, TREATS THE
SUBJECT OF HER DEATH. THE POET DEALS WITH THE THEME OF LOSS
THROUGH DEATH AND THE SORROWS THAT FOLLOW.
• THE MESSAGE CONVEYED BY THE POEM IS THAT THE POET FINALLY
UNDERSTANDS THAT PASSING OF TIME AND ANY OTHER ACTIVITY IN HIS
LIFE WOULD NO MORE HAVE EFFECT ON HIS BELOVED ONE,WHO IS DEAD. SHE
IS NOW A PART OF NATURE

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Literary devices
1. Rhyme scheme - abab cdcd

2. Alliteration - The repetition of a consonant sound at the start of two or more consecutive words is called
alliteration. The instances of alliteration are as follows -
‘Spirit sealed’, ‘rolled round’

3. Enjambment - when a sentence continues into two or more lines ending without any punctuation marks, it is
called Enjambment. The instances of enjambment are as follows -
“She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.”
“Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks and stones and trees.”

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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 poet’s soul had drifted into deep sleep as he did not have any realization of the truth. He
had taken life for granted and had never thought that one day death would take Lucy away from
him. When she was taken away, he could not bear the loss.
The poet accepts the truth that Lucy is no more. She is motionless, lifeless. She cannot see nor
hear. She has been buried in the earth. She will assimilate into the earth and is rotating along
with the earth. One day she will become one with the rocks, stones and trees that are a part of
the Earth.

Slumber: sleep
Spirit: soul
diurnal: daily 6

(Earth’s diurnal course” is earth’s daily rotation on its axis)