Overall,
someone who has been suffering from
insomnia describes his difficulties in Wordsworths poem,
To Sleep.
The title and the first two lines of the poem hint at the theme
of sleeplessness even before it is clearly identified. For
instance, the
idea of counting sheep to put oneself to sleep is very common
in the face of sleeplessnesseven
to a contemporary audience.
In the first four lines, Wordsworth describes the
images that come
into the speaker's mind as he tries to fall
asleep.
A flock of sheep that leisurely
pass
by,
One after one; the sound of rain, and bees
Murmuring; the fall of
rivers, winds and seas,
Smooth fields,
white sheets of water, and pure sky...
(1-4)
The speaker lists the things he has laid awake
imagining, in an
attempt to sleep. "One by one" gives reference to the act of counting
sheep.
"Leisurely" refers to the rolling gait and relaxed pace of the moving sheep
(1-2). The speaker refers to the soothing sounds of rain, "bees murmuring"
and
waterfalls"fall of rivers" (2-3). He also describes the visions of
"smooth
fields" (perhaps a part of an afternoon nap in the country), as well
as a "pure
sky," with no hint of storm and nothing in it that would cause
anything but a quiet calm
within, conducive to falling asleep
(3-4).
In lines 5-8, Wordsworth's speaker
explains that he
has done all he can think of to bring sleep upon himself (5). However, he has
had no successhe has remained awake all night longuntil he finally hears the sound of
birds
that utter in the orchard, breaking the silence
with their song in the
early morning, we imagine just before dawn (5-6). Even
the first
href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cuckoo">cuckoo makes a
melancholy: we can assume it is because the speaker is still awake
to hear
it, having had no respite from the day before. Note that the bird
does not sing,
but criesit is a sound of distress
(7-8):
I have thought of all by turns,
and yet do lie
Sleepless! and soon the small
birds'
melodies
Must hear, first uttered from my orchard trees;
And
the
first cuckoo's melancholy cry. (5-8)
The theme of
sleeplessness continues into the next three lines,
giving the reader a deeper insight into the
depth of the speaker's
difficulty: for it is not just this one sleepless
night,
but the third in a row
Even thus last night,
and
two nights more, I lay,
And could not win thee, Sleep! by
any stealth;
So
do not let me wear tonight away...
(9-11)
With all the
tricks he has
tried to use, the insomniac has not been able to even steal"Sleep! by any
stealth..." (10)any relief. In line 11 the speaker directly addresses sleep (as if it
were
a living, hearing thing), asking that it not allow
him to remain in the
same condition as he faces the approach of another
night.
The poem's last
three lines describe just how
important sleep is:
Without
Thee what
is all the morning's wealth?
Come, blessed barrier between day
and
day,
Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health!
(12-14)
The "morning's wealth" (12)
refers to all of the wonders
of a new day. "Wealth" indicates that the
morning is filled with things that are
extremely valuable. He has already
pointed out the sound of birds that welcome the day. They are
a blessing at
the beginning of the day, but only after a time of rest; the sound is very
different when one has remained unable to experience rest, but instead has counted the
long
hours until the day breaks. What good, what joy is to be found in the
coming of morning without
rest from the night before?
The
speaker praises sleep, referring to the
"blessed barrier" (13), the thing that separates one day
from
another. He goes on to provide details of the benefits of a good night's
sleep: "fresh
thoughts" and "joyous health." (14)
Whereas
the title might
first lead the reader to believe the poem is about the
pleasures of sleep, the content
demonstrates that it is actually about the
hardships created when one
is unable to sleep; it points
out the negative ramificationsmost especially
when the insomnia continues
over subsequent nights.
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