Question

Write an appreciation of the poem "TO SLEEP" by William Wordsworth

Answer 1

An address to something as mundane as sleep is an unusual subject matter for poetry. And yet Wordsworth is able not only to compose a lyrical piece on it but also to hold his readers’ attention to the subject using his inimitable style. When he begins by describing the peaceful, pastoral scene in the first stanza, we are left wondering what exactly is going on. It is only in the second stanza that we realize that Wordsworth has been describing the work of his imagination. It is because he cannot sleep that he tries to relax his mind by conjuring up images of a serene landscape. In the third stanza, we realize that sleeplessness is an experience that the poet goes through often. And perhaps because of that, he respects Sleep greatly. For him, Sleep is not just an abstract thing, because he is not able to take it for granted like other people. Instead, Sleep is a mysterious figure with whom he constantly wages a battle but against whom he can never hope to win. Sleep is one who is able to trick him every time. That he respects Sleep is best expressed in the last stanza when he speaks to Sleep with a word like “Thee” that we only use while speaking to an exalted figure. Moreover, he feminizes Sleep by referring to Sleep as a mother – one who gives birth to the thing that a poet most values, that is, to fresh ideas. He respects Sleep not because Sleep can easily defeat him in battle, but because of the function of Sleep in human life. It separates the darkness of night from the dawning of a new day. Moreover, it rejuvenates man after a hard day’s work. For the poet, in particular, Sleep is a restorative remedy. It supplies him with new ideas which he can then work into beautiful verse.

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