11 May: "Sleep" by Annie Matheson

Sleep
By Annie Matheson (1853–1924)
 
“And all the air a solemn stillness holds.”

SOFT silence of the summer night
  Alive with wistful murmurings,
Enfold me in thy quiet might:
  Shake o’er my head thy slumb’rous wings,
      So cool and light:        5
  Let me forget all earthly things
      In sleep to-night!
 
Tired roses, passionately sweet,
  Are leaning on their cool green leaves,
The mignonette about my feet        10
  A maze of tangled fragrance weaves,
      Where dewdrops meet:
  Kind sleep the weary world bereaves
      Of noise and heat.
 
White lilies, pure as falling snow,        15
  And redolent of tenderness,
Are gently swaying to and fro,
  Lulled by the breath of evening less
      Than by the low
  Music of sleepy winds, that bless        20
      The buds that grow.
 
The air is like a mother’s hand
  Laid softly on a throbbing brow,
And o’er the darksome, dewy land
  The peace of heaven is stealing now,        25
      While, hand in hand,
  Young angels tell the flowers how
      Their lives are planned.
 
From yon deep sky the quiet stars
  Look down with steadfast eloquence,        30
And God the prison-door unbars
  That held the mute world’s inmost sense
      From all the wars
  Of day’s loud hurry and turbulence;
And nothing now the silence mars        35
      Of love intense.

8 comments:

  1. A different perspective on night time. Usually night has dark connotations and tones. Here night has all these positives descriptions: angles, wings, tenderness, music, growing, peace, heaven, flowers, and eloquence. The narrator sees the night as an escape of all the loudness and turbulence of the day, 9-5 living maybe? Being somewhere calm and quiet sounds nice. My garden would would also have food!

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  2. The poem ‘Sleep’ is written from the point of view of a person describing sleep. The author used a metaphor when he wrote, “Tired roses, passionately sweet.” This shows roses being passionately sweet; this highlights the meaning of the rose making it super sweet. The simile of the air being like a mother’s hand; which means the air is comforting and warm. When she wrote “Music of sleepy winds, that bless.” This personification shows that there is the music of the sleepy winds; this is saying that the winds are sleepy (tired/exhausted) and that the wind has music (sound/whistle). In the poem there is also a hyperbole, the hyperbole is forgetting all of the earthly things; the author exaggerated here by writing all earthly things for your whole life is earthly. The symbolism of the poem is silence; the poem talks about how silent, peaceful, and quiet the night/sleep is.

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    Replies
    1. Sleep is part of the description as you clearly explain. But the peaceful tone is describing summer nights in general which sleep is very much a part of.

      The ending is especially interesting to me. What do you make of the juxtaposition between "wars/of day's loud hurry and turbulence" vs "Silence mars of love."

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  3. Great Article it its really informative and innovative keep us posted with new updates. its was really valuable. thanks a lot. Sleep Calculator

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  4. whht is the subject of the poem

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    Replies
    1. Read the other comments and look at the title of the poem.

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  5. what is the alliteration that is used?

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  6. Does anybody know where 2 metaphors were used?

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