A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

Analysis:
"A slumber did my spirit seal" is one of Wordsworth's "Lucy Poems,"

which focus primarily on the death of a young woman named Lucy
(though she remains unnamed in this poem). Many scholars and literary
historians have offered theories as to who Lucy was, but her true identity
remains a mystery.
The poem is comprised of only two four-line stanzas, and yet a great deal
happens in this narrow space. We see the speaker's realization not only
that this young woman has died, but also that bad things can happen in a
beautiful world. In the first stanza the speaker is innocently unaware that
age can touch the woman, but he is quickly taught a harsh lesson when
she dies between stanzas one and two. The choice to hide the death
between the stanzas is interesting, as it seems to imply that the speaker
is unable to verbalize the pain that goes along with the sudden loss.
On the other hand, the poem may be less about the speaker's innocence
than about his belief in the young woman's power. Indeed, he seems to
have built her up in his mind into a goddess, untouched by age and
mortality. This desire to keep her perpetually young is a testament to the
speaker's feelings for the young woman.
In the second stanza Wordsworth offers an eerie description of the

woman's current situation. She is blind and deaf--wholly incapable of
taking in the world around her. This is a particularly painful idea in a
Wordsworth poem, because he is generally so focused on experiencing
the senses. The speaker also mentions that she is now without motion
or force. This, of course, is true of all dead people, but by stating the
obvious the speaker helps the reader to imagine the way the young
woman once was: full of life and vigor.
In the last two lines the speaker describes the young woman trapped
beneath the surface of the earth. In fact, she has become a part of the
earth, rolling with it as it turns day to day. The very last line of the poem
is especially interesting, because the speaker lists both rocks and stones,
which are essentially the same. It may be that he intends to reference
both gravestones and common rocks. Alternatively, the speaker may
intend to emphasize the "dead" things of the earth over living things like
trees (which are mentioned only once).
"A slumber did my spirit seal" is a ballad, though a very short one. The
stanzas follow an abab rhyme scheme, and the first and third lines are in
iambic tetrameter, while the second and forth lines are in iambic trimeter.
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

by William Wordsworth
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.

I chose this poem because of its ethereal sort of atmosphere. In here, William Wordsworth talks
about the death of a female, probably a lover. He explains and describes her death and how he
sees her in that state. The first two lines tell us about the author, or the speaker, the poetic voice
through which the author speaks. “A slumber did my spirit seal” could mean that the speaker was
in some sort of a lethargic state, as if he wasn’t living in reality but rather in fantasy, or in a
twisted dream. Saying that he had “no human fears” could mean that he was a brave man, even
in moments of tragedy. It could also mean that he had once been a brave, strong man, one that
could not be easily broken until tragedy struck in the form of this woman’s death. In the lines
“She seemed a thing that could not feel,
The touch of earthly years”
he is referring to how she seems like she doesn’t age. Those lines hint at us that the woman has
died (she cannot age for she is dead). Her death is only implied throughout the poem, never
addressed directly, however in the second stanza it becomes clearer and almost painfully obvious
that he is describing his possible lover’s death. The eerie, cryptic atmosphere created by the
description serves to show the pain and agony that the author was suffering when writing the
poem, which may also be the reason why he does not address the matter directly. This might be
interpreted as her death being far too overwhelming for him to even mention it in a direct
manner. The lines
“No motion has she now, no force;”
tell us how she is lying still, how she is now an inanimate object, devoid of life. It can subtly imply
that she had once been an energetic person, not one to stay put in one place for long. Addressing
her current lack of senses can also imply that the woman might have been one to live life fully,
using all of her senses to enjoy each day. He emphasizes how she can no longer enjoy the world
through sight or sound by stating that she can no longer see nor hear; he also mentions how she
is part of the earth now:
“She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks, and stones, and trees.”
The last two lines explain how her body has decomposed and has become one with earth, how she
is now a part of nature. An interesting little detail in the last line is how he mentions “rocks” and
“stones”, which are synonyms. Is it an intentional redundancy that emphasizes some aspect I’m
missing? Maybe he wants to make it very clear that she is now as inanimate and lifeless as rocks
are, for trees are inanimate but they are alive.
A very nice poem indeed, with a dark atmosphere, that somehow depicts beauty in a sort of
creepy way.

I would like to add that the poem has been turned into an amazing song covered by the band
Draconian. It might not suit all music tastes, however I believe it makes the poem justice with its
Gothic darkness, for the poem is quite dark itself:

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

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Analysis:

"A slumber did my spirit seal" is one of Wordsworth's "Lucy Poems,"

In the second stanza Wordsworth offers an eerie description of the

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

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