This poem is about the death of a loved one. How does the poet feel when he thinks about her death? How does he imagine her to be, after death?

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

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 and stones and trees.

                              William Wordsworth

About the poet: WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770- 1850) was one of the greatest of English Romantic poets. He mastered all major verse forms, lyrics, ballads, odes, sonnets, narrative poetry and reflective verse. He is a poet of nature and wrote in the language of everyday speech. In his preface to ‘Lyrical Ballads’, which he published with his friend Coleridge, he explains that his motive was to write poetry for the ordinary reader. His most famous works include – ‘Tintern Abbey’, ‘The Prelude”. His ‘Collection of Poems’ includes a host of lyrics, odes and sonnets. He became The Poet Laureate of Britain in 1864.

‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’ belongs to the ‘Lucy’ group of poems. It is probable that Lucy does not represent any real person. She is possibly Wordsworth’s ideal of what powers of nature can do to bring about perfection in the development of the human form and mind. This is the only poem in the group where he does not mention Lucy’s name.

Theme of – ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

The poem ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’ deals with the inevitability of death and the stoic calm that one experiences with acceptance of death. The poet accepts the death of his beloved and realises that she has become a part of nature and is now beyond the grasp of time. Nothing can harm her anymore and in being a part of nature she has been immortalised.

Message of – ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

The poet gives us the message that death is inevitable and everyone born in this earth must return to dust and become a part of nature.

Summary of ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

The first stanza deals with the poets shock at the death of his beloved. He was enthralled by her beauty and never thought that he might lose her some day. Her death benumbed his senses and he ceased to perceive any kind of feeling or fear.  His beloved the lively and lovely Lucy is no longer able

to feel anything anymore and is beyond the reach of time. The ravages of time could no longer harm her. This realisation brings about a sense of peace in the poet’s mind.

In the second stanza the poet accepts death as an inevitable truth that everyone has to face. He tells us that his beloved is no longer alive and therefore does not move, see or hear anymore.  The poet realises that she is now an inseparable part of nature and will eternally roll around with the earth’s rotation on its axis; just like rocks, stones and trees.

GLOSSARY/ Word meanings of ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

Slumber – sleep

Spirit – soul

Seal – close / shut off

Human fear –  emotion perceived from danger

Earthly years- (here) ravages of time

Motion – movement

Force – (here) power of her own

Diurnal: daily (“Earth’s diurnal course” is earth’s daily rotation on its axis.)

Literary Devices in ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

Alliteration – A slumber did my spirit seal. – ‘s’ sound is repeated

                     Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course. ‘r’ sound is repeated

Metaphor – ‘A slumber did my spirit seal.’

                   The poet’s peaceful state is compared to a state as if he is in a deep sleep.

Personification – ‘The touch of earthly years’

Here the ‘earthly years’ have been attributed with human qualities.

Repetition – ‘No’, ‘’and’ – these two words are repeated twice in the same line.

Rhyme scheme of ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

The rhyme scheme of the poem is ‘abab  cdcd’.

The fist line rhymes with the third line, the second with the fourth.

The fifth line rhymes with the seventh one and the sixth line with the eighth

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Thinking about the Poem -‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

Question /Answers of ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

1“A slumber did my spirit seal,” says the poet. That is, a deep sleep ‘closed off ’ his soul (or mind). How does the poet react to his loved one’s death? Does he feel bitter grief? Or does he feel a great peace?

Ans. The poet is shocked and surprised at the death of his beloved. Her death pained him a lot and saddened him. But with the passing of time the ‘bitter grief’ reduces with gradual acceptance and realisation that his beloved has become a part of nature and is beyond the mortal earthly touch. The poet feels peaceful and becomes passive to all human feelings and fears.

2. The passing of time will no longer affect her, says the poet. Which lines of the poem say this?

Ans. The lines which convey that the poet’s beloved is no longer affected by the passing of time are-

 “She seems a thing that could not feel

   The touch of earthly years.”

3. How does the poet imagine her to be, after death? Does he think of her as a person living in a very happy state (a ‘heaven’)? Or does he see her now as a part of nature? In which lines of the poem do you find your answer?

Ans. The poet thinks that his beloved has become an inseparable part of nature.

No, he possibly does not think that she is in a happy state in heaven. He sees her as a person who is dead and has lost all her human feelings. She has become a part of the earth and in that way she has become immortal.

The lines which tell us so are-

“Rolled around in earth’s diurnal course

 With rocks and stones and trees.”

Extra questions –

Q. Justify the title of the poem – “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal”

Ans. According to me, the title of the poem is justified because the poem talks about the effect of the sudden and untimely death of his beloved. After his death he feels benumbed with grief, as if a deep slumber has sealed his spirit. The acceptance of her death makes him fell at peace which seems to close off all feelings from his body and soul. His beloved, now a part of nature, will no longer be affected by earthly years. She will not feel any motion or force, nor will she be able to perceive with her eyes and ears. The poet realises that she is now an inseparable part of nature and will eternally roll around with the earth’s rotation on its axis; just like rocks, stones and trees. Therefore, the spirit of the poet is engulfed in a slumber and has become free from human feelings and fears.

Q. Why could she not feel the touch of earthly years?

Ans. The poet’s beloved could not feel the touch of earthly years as was dead and did not have any feelings. She would not age or be affected by time as she has eternally become an inseparable part of nature.

Q. Describe her condition after death as depicted by the poet.

Ans. After her death, the poet describes his beloved as someone who will never again be affected by time. She will not be able to feel any motion or force, nor will she be able to hear or see. She is now a part of nature and is rotating around in the earth’s diurnal course just like the rocks, stones and trees.

 Q. How has Lucy become a part of the earth’s diurnal course?

Ans. Lucy after her death has been buried in her grave. Therefore, she has now become a part of the earth along with the rocks and stones and trees and is being rolled along with the earth as it rotates in its axis.

Annotations/ Reference to context of ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’

A slumber did my spirit seal—

I had no human fears.

She seemed a thing that could not feel

The touch of earthly years.

Q. What  does the poet mean by ‘A slumber did my spirit seal’?

Ans. The poet means to say that the initial shock of losing his beloved made him numb. It was as if a deep sleep had closed off his mind and heart and he was unable to perceive any kind of emotion.

Q. Why did the poet not have any human fears?

Ans. The poet did not feel any kind of fear that human beings feel as his mind had become numb with the shock of losing Lucy his beloved.

Q. Why did she seem a thing that could not feel the touch of earthly years?

Ans. The poet’s beloved was dead and therefore was now like an inanimate object which was beyond the grasp of time. The years on earth or time will no longer be able to affect her and therefore she is beyond the touch of earthly years.

2.  No motion has she now, no force—

     She neither hears nor sees,

    Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course

    With rocks and stones and trees.

Q. What does the poet mean by ‘No motion has she now, no force/ She neither hears nor sees,’

Ans. The poet’s beloved is dead therefore she is buried and has become an integral and inseparable part of nature. She does not have any movement of her own and is not able to perceive anything with her eyes and ears.

Q. Who is rolled about in earth’s diurnal course and why?

Ans. the poet’s beloved is now dead and buried under the earth. She is now a part of nature and is being rotated along with the other objects of the earth as it rotates on its axis.

Q   What is the relation between the poet’s beloved to the rocks and stones and trees?

Ans. The poet says that his beloved is now inanimate without  any movement and force of her own. She is buried in her grave and has become an eternal part of nature. Just like the rocks and stones and trees, she too is rotating along with the earth.