About the Poet - "William Wordsworth"
William Wordsworth was a pioneer of Romanticism in English poetry and is considered one of the greatest lyric poets in the history of English literature. He was born on April 7, 1770, at Cockermouth, England. His first volume of poems was published in 1793. It was in 1843 that he became Britain’s Poet Laureate.
Theme
In the poem ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’, the poet expresses his views after the death of the beloved. Initially, the poet is shocked. He is deeply grieved and troubled by the death of his beloved. He has gone numb but in his numbness, he realizes that he needs to move on and accept his fate. He develops a different attitude to death. He realizes that death is inevitable and he needs to accept the fact that his beloved is no more. He shows the readers that even after death, his beloved or all our beloved dead people are alive as a part of nature. They are free from worldly affairs and are immortal.
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Summary for Class 9
The word ‘Slumber’ literally means deep sleep. In the poem, William Wordsworth refers to the word ‘Slumber’ to the death of sensations that fills the poet’s heart after the death of his beloved. The poet has used the word to express his grief and sorrow he was suffering. The poet is aghast at the death of his loved one and he is not able to come out of it. He is so shocked and sad that he can feel the numbness in his body and he is not able to move. He becomes numb to all his sensations and also becomes void of all human fears. At the same time, the poet realizes that he needs to accept his fate and move on with life. He develops a different attitude towards death. He realizes that death is inevitable and one needs to accept that death is the eternal truth of life. The poet tells the reader that even after death, people can be alive as a part of nature. He seems to be immortalizing his beloved one in making her merge with the cosmic forces of the Universe.
Explanation of A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal by Stanza
A slumber did my spirit seal.
I had no human fears.
She seemed like a thing that could not be felt.
The touch of earthly years.
In this stanza, the poet expresses his grief over the death of a loved one. He says that he is so shocked by the death of a loved one that he feels that his soul has gone into a deep sleep. He has become completely numb and senseless. Now the poet does not have any human fears like loss, death, etc. After her death, she seems to him like a thing who cannot feel anything present on this Earth. She is not affected by the physical existence of humans including human fears and time. His beloved passed away peacefully leaving everything behind.
No motion has she now, no force.
She neither hears nor sees.
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal.
With rocks and stones and trees.
In the above stanza, the poet says that there is no motion left in his beloved’s body as death has come over. She has no life force in her body due to death. She neither here nor sees anything. She has become earth-like, rotating around the Sun every day. She is now a part of the tree, rocks, and stones that also move along with the Earth. She has become a part of nature itself and is immortal and unforgettable for the poet. The poet seems to pay a glowing tribute to his beloved in uplifting his beloved to the cosmic level. The poet immortalizes his beloved in making her merge with the cosmic forces.
About the Author - William Wordsworth
Amongst many renowned English (British) writers such as William Shakespeare also known as the Father of English Literature, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Romantic poet, and many others lies the name William Wordsworth who was said to be one of the founders of English romanticism & was seen as a very prominent part of it. William was born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, in the Lake District of England. His interest in writing was present since he was a young boy in grammar school. The love for nature and sympathy for humankind was present in the themes of his poetry. Wordsworth’s best-known work is Lyrical Ballads which he co-wrote with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, also, The prelude, a romantic poem that circles the growth of a poet’s mind. Here, the students are going to be getting to know about one of their other amazing poems of his, called Slumber did my Spirit Seal.
The Poem
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, stones, and trees.
Summary of the Poem
In the first stanza, the poet initiates the poem by stating that he has been so deep in his slumber that he felt no human fear as if he was immune to everything around him. He then proceeds to talk about his, perhaps, lover, an unspecified woman, that she looked so unsusceptible to the concept of aging, earthly years could not affect her. Proceeding to the second stanza where it seems that suddenly when passes away, as written by the author, she could not move, she had no motion or force, she couldn’t hear or see, she’s then buried in the earth and now she rolls around with the course of day & night along with the earth and rocks, stones, and trees.
Rhyme Scheme, and Analysis
As clearly given above, the poem Slumber did my spirit seal consists of two stanzas, both written in four lines. The rhyme scheme of this beautiful poem is ABAB CDCD which gives it an even more enchanting touch. Although this poem revolves around the idea of death, death itself, and what happens after death, it cannot be denied how alluring this poem really is.
FAQs on Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Summary: A Poem by William Wordsworth
1. What has Been Referred to as ‘Slumber’? Why did the Poet do so?
The word ‘Slumber’ literally means deep sleep. In the poem, ‘Slumber’ refers to the death of sensations or numbness that fills the poet after the death of his beloved. The poet has used the word to represent the shock and grief he was suffering from.
2. How does the Poet Develop a Different Attitude Towards Death by the End of the Poem?
It is the eternal truth that death is inevitable. It is the ultimate end and everyone has to die one day. We are all aware of this truth but still, no one wants to die. We fear death and try to avoid it as much as we can. Even when someone around us dies, we are deeply shocked and grieved.
In the poem, the poet expresses his views after the death of his beloved. He is so shocked at the death that his entire body has become numb and he is unable to move. He says that his soul has gone into a deep sleep but at the same time, he realizes that he needs to accept fate and move on with life. To get over this sorrow, he develops a different attitude and tells the readers that we can keep our beloved alive even after death by immortalizing them with Mother Nature who will never be affected by external forces.
3. In What Context have Rocks, Stones, and Trees Have Been Used in the Poem?
Rocks, trees, and stones have been used in the context to show the diurnal course of the Earth. They are an integral part of the Earth’s daily rotation around the sun and are not affected by anything. The poet compares death in the same manner. The poet very beautifully tells the readers that after death, people merge with the cosmic force of the Universe and they remain alive in the form of nature not being affected by anything.
4. Why did the author say that he had no human fears?
In the first line of the poem, the poet states of his deep slumber which means deep sleep, which if taken metaphorically, means when a person is in deep sleep, they are unaware of what’s around them. The author devoid himself of any feeling, saying he now has no human fears.
5. What happens to the ‘she’ author is referring to?
She, maybe a lover of the poet, seemed to have succumbed to death. In the first stanza, the author is in deep shock and pain as he thought her to be unaffected by the process of aging which he states as earthly years.
But as we move onto the second stanza, the poet goes on to say ‘she’ has no motion or force which means she now cannot move, she does not see or hear anymore as she has died. Now buried in the earth, she has become a part of the earth’s diurnal course and rolls around with rocks, stones and trees.
6. What does the author mean by ‘earth’s diurnal course’?
The author when he says that her lover has now become a part of earth’s diurnal course means that now that she has been buried after death, she and earth have unified in the eternal process of day and night. The earth, no matter what happens, never changes its course of day and night. One always comes after the other. And even after the death of the poet’s lover, earth’s diurnal course continues and has taken her a part of its never-ending journey.
7. What is the theme of this poem Slumber did my Spirit Seal?
The main theme which can be grasped from every line of this poem can be said to be revolving around the inevitability of death. The poet who kept himself to an idea of immortality in regards to his lover gets heartbroken when faced with his lover’s unforeseen death.
8. What does the first line of the poem mean?
The first line, which is also the title of the poem, states that the poet’s slumber sealed his spirit to the inescapable reality which is the cycle of life. Due to this, he failed to realize that one day death would take away his lover.
