Summary Poem Analysis of 'The Pains of Sleep' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Course
Poetry
Institution
CIE
Here’s a full analysis of the poem “The Pains of Sleep” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, tailored towards A-Level students, but also suitable for those studying at a higher level.
Includes:
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Vocabulary
Story/Summary
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Structure/Form
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Attitudes
T...
The Pains of Sleep
Ere on my bed my limbs I lay,
It hath not been my use to pray
With moving lips or bended knees;
But silently, by slow degrees,
My spirit I to Love compose,
In humble trust mine eye-lids close,
With reverential resignation
No wish conceived, no thought exprest,
Only a sense of supplication;
A sense o'er all my soul imprest
That I am weak, yet not unblest,
Since in me, round me, every where
Eternal strength and Wisdom are.
But yester-night I prayed aloud
In anguish and in agony,
Up-starting from the fiendish crowd
Of shapes and thoughts that tortured me:
A lurid light, a trampling throng,
Sense of intolerable wrong,
And whom I scorned, those only strong!
Thirst of revenge, the powerless will
Still baffled, and yet burning still!
Desire with loathing strangely mixed
On wild or hateful objects fixed.
Fantastic passions! maddening brawl!
And shame and terror over all!
Deeds to be hid which were not hid,
Which all confused I could not know
Whether I suffered, or I did:
For all seemed guilt, remorse or woe,
My own or others still the same
Life-stifling fear, soul-stifling shame.
So two nights passed: the night's dismay
Saddened and stunned the coming day.
, Sleep, the wide blessing, seemed to me
Distemper's worst calamity.
The third night, when my own loud scream
Had waked me from the fiendish dream,
O'ercome with sufferings strange and wild,
I wept as I had been a child;
And having thus by tears subdued
My anguish to a milder mood,
Such punishments, I said, were due
To natures deepliest stained with sin,—
For aye entempesting anew
The unfathomable hell within,
The horror of their deeds to view,
To know and loathe, yet wish and do!
Such griefs with such men well agree,
But wherefore, wherefore fall on me?
To be loved is all I need,
And whom I love, I love indeed.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
VOCABULARY
Ere - before
Hath - has
Compose - to make or form
Reverential - in reverence, respectful
Resignation - being resigned - serious acceptance of something unavoidable
Conceived - created, thought of
Supplication - being in a state of humbly asking for something
Imprest - impressed, pressed upon
Unblest - unblessed, not blessed
Eternal - lasting forever
Yester-night - last night
Anguish - stress
Agony - extreme pain
Up-starting - rising suddenly
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