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Notes and Annotation by Michael
J. Cummings..©
2006
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Type
of Work and Date of Publication
"The Sleeper" is a lyric
poem first published in 1831, then revised and published again in 1836
and 1845. The last version was published in the Broadway Journal
of May 1845.
Rhyme
Scheme
The "The Sleeper" is written
in couplets and triplets. A couplet has two successive rhyming lines, and
a triplet has three successive rhyming lines. The first six lines contain
the following three couplets:
At midnight, in the month
of June,
I stand beneath the mystic
moon.
An opiate vapor, dewy, dim,
Exhales from out her golden
rim,
And, softly dripping, drop
by drop,
Upon the quiet mountain
top
By contrast, the first five
lines of the fourth stanza begin with a triplet followed by a couplet:
My love, she sleeps! Oh,
may her sleep,
As it is lasting, so be
deep!
Soft may the worms about
her creep!
Far in the forest, dim and
old,
For her may some tall vault
unfold —
Meter
"The Sleeper" is written
mostly in iambic tetrameter.
In this format, a line has four pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables,
for a total of eight syllables. The term tetrameter (from the Greek
tetra, meaning four, and metron, meaning measure)
indicates that a line has four syllabic units. The first two lines of the
poem demonstrate the metric pattern:
Use
of Apostrophe
The narrator addresses Irene
in Stanza 2, as if she can hear what he is saying. Addressing
a person or thing in such a way, without expecting an answer, is a figure
of speech called apostrophe. An apostrophe frequently begins with Oh
or O, as in the opening two lines of Stanza 2: Oh, lady
bright! can it be right– / This window
open to the night? In Shakespeare's Julius
Caesar, Mark Antony also addresses a dead body (that of Caesar), saying,
"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth." In the New Testament of the
Bible, St. Paul addresses death in his first epistle to the Corinthians
(Chapter 15, Verses 54 and 55): O, death, where is thy sting? O, grave,
where is thy victory?
Alliteration
Alliteration plays an important
role in "The Sleeper," as in other poems of Poe, in that it helps to maintain
rhythm and musicality. Note, for example, that the first two lines of the
poem emphasize the m sound.
At midnight,
in the month of June,
I stand beneath the mystic
moon.
Another example of alliteration
is the following lines in the fourth stanza:
Far
in the forest, dim and old,
For
her may some tall vault unfold —
Some vault that oft
hath flung its
black
And
wingèd panels fluttering
back
Atmosphere and Theme
The atmosphere of the poem
is dreamlike, otherworldly. Words such as mystic, opiate, drowsily,
slumber, wizard, ghosts, and shadows reinforce the mood. The
theme is transcendental love–that is, love for a woman so powerful that
it extends into the afterlife in its concern for the well-being of the
deceased woman's soul. "The Sleeper" is one of many Poe poems focusing
on beautiful women who have died.
Author
Information
Edgar Allan Poe was born
on January 19, 1809, in Boston. After being orphaned at age two, he was
taken into the home of a childless couple–John Allan, a successful businessman
in Richmond, Va., and his wife. Allan was believed to be Poe’s godfather.
At age six, Poe went to England with the Allans and was enrolled in schools
there. After he returned with the Allans to the U.S. in 1820, he studied
at private schools, then attended the University of Virginia and the U.S.
Military Academy, but did not complete studies at either school. After
beginning his literary career as a poet and prose writer, he married his
young cousin, Virginia Clemm. He worked for several magazines and joined
the staff of the New York Mirror newspaper in 1844. All the while,
he was battling a drinking problem. After the Mirror published his
poem “The Raven” in January 1845, Poe achieved national and international
fame. Besides pioneering the development of the short story, Poe invented
the format for the detective story as we know it today. He also was an
outstanding literary critic. Despite the acclaim he received, he was never
really happy because of his drinking and because of the deaths of several
people close to him, including his wife in 1847. He frequently had trouble
paying his debts. It is believed that heavy drinking was a contributing
cause of his death in Baltimore on October 7, 1849.
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The Sleeper
By Edgar Allan Poe
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| Text of the Poem |
Summaries and Notes |
| 1
At midnight, in the month
of June,
I stand beneath the mystic
moon.
An
opiate vapor, dewy, dim,
Exhales
from out her golden rim,
And,
softly dripping, drop by drop,
Upon the quiet mountain
top,
Steals drowsily and musically
Into the universal valley.
The rosemary
nods upon the grave;
The lily
lolls upon the wave;
Wrapping the fog about its
breast,
The ruin
moulders into rest;
Looking like Lethe,
see! the lake
A conscious slumber seems
to take,
And would not, for the world,
awake.
All Beauty sleeps! — and
lo! where lies
(Her casement
open to the skies)
Irene,
with her Destinies!.
. |
1
Stanza 1 Summary:
At midnight in June the narrator observes in the moonlight a dreamlike
scene in a misty valley with a tranquil lake and a cemetery. He wonders
in which tomb lies the the lovely Irene.
opiate:
pacifying, calming
musically: the soft breeze
carrying the mist creates a sort of lullaby as it blows across the landscape
and through trees
universal valley: graveyard,
representing the universality of death
rosemary: evergreen shrub
(or herb) in the mint family long used as a symbol of remembrance
lolls:
bobs gently
ruin:
tomb or cemetery
moulders:
decays
Lethe:
In Greek mythology, a river in Hades. Drinking its water induces forgetfulness.
Here, the waters of the lake are still, as if in deep, forgetful sleep.
casement:
window that opens on hinges attached to the sash
Irene: In Greek mythology,
goddess of peace
Irene:
In Greek mythology, the goddess of peace (from the Greek, Eirene.
The final e in Greek is long and is pronounced. It appears here
that Poe intended the final e of Irene to be pronounced as well
in order to maintain iambic tetrameter. |
| 2
Oh, lady bright! can it be
right —
This window
open to the night?
The wanton
airs, from the tree-top,
Laughingly through the lattice
drop —
The bodiless airs, a wizard
rout,
Flit through thy chamber
in and out,
And wave
the curtain canopy
So fitfully — so fearfully
—
Above the closed and fringèd
lid
'Neath which thy slumb'ring
soul lies hid,
That, o'er the floor and
down the wall,
Like ghosts the shadows
rise and fall!
Oh, lady dear, hast
thou no fear?
Why and what art thou dreaming
here?
Sure thou art come o'er
far-off seas,
A wonder to these garden
trees!
Strange is thy pallor! strange
thy dress!
Strange, above all, thy
length of tress,
And this all solemn silentness!
.. |
2
Stanza 2 Summary:
The narrator sees a tomb with an opening into which the roaming breeze
blows, rustling the curtain over her coffin. The movement of the air causes
the curtain to cast ghostly shadows. Is Irene afraid of the shadows? What
is Irene dreaming about? The narrator asks these questions about Irene,
whose beauty is a wonder in this garden setting. As if he can see her,
he says the whiteness of her skin, her dress, and the length of her hair
all appear strange
window:
the casement window of Stanza 1
wanton:
capricious, changeable, playful
lattice:
the crisscrossing bars on the casement window
wizard
rout: swarm or crowd (rout) of airs conjured by a wizard
wave
. . . canopy: blow the curtain of the canopy that covers the
coffin. A canopy consists of fabric attached to four poles. Here, the canopy
may simply be a pall draped over the coffin rather than the kind adorning
a four-poster bed
fringèd:
having a border. The accented e (è)
is necessary to create an extra syllable that maintains iambic tetrameter.
shadows: those cast by the
waving curtain
hast
. . . fear: Don't you fear the ghostly shadows? |
| 3
The lady sleeps! Oh, may
her sleep,
Which is enduring, so be
deep!
Heaven
have her in its sacred keep!
This chamber changed for
one more holy,
This bed for one more melancholy,
I pray to God that she may
lie
Forever with unopened eye,
While the pale sheeted ghosts
go by! |
3
Stanza 3 Summary:
The narrator hopes that Irene's sleep will be deep and that heaven will
place her under its care in the holiest of burial chambers. Moreover, he
prays that God will grant her blissful eternal rest uninterrupted by ghosts.
. |
| 4
My love, she sleeps! Oh,
may her sleep,
As it is lasting, so be
deep!
Soft may the worms about
her creep!
Far in the forest, dim and
old,
For her may some tall vault
unfold —
Some vault that oft hath
flung its black
And
wingèd panels fluttering back,
Triumphant, o'er the crested
palls,
Of her grand family funerals
—
Some sepulchre, remote,
alone,
Against whose portal she
hath thrown,
In childhood, many an idle
stone —
Some tomb from out whose
sounding door
She ne'er shall force an
echo more,
Thrilling to think, poor
child of sin!
It was the dead who groaned
within. |
4
Stanza 4 Summary:
The narrator expresses hope that a burial vault in the forest will open
its entrance to Irene. In childhood, she probably threw an idle stone against
the door of the vault, causing the dead within to groan . When lying such
a vault, she never again be able to cause an echo like the one resulting
from the stone she threw.
flung
. . . back: opened its entrance to receive the deceased at the
end of family funerals.
crested
palls: cloth coffin coverings, inscribed with a family emblem,
such as a coat of arms.
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