A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal – 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.
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal | Important Points to Remember
• Name of the girl- Lucy
• Lucy has died.
• The poem is about the death of a loved one.
• A slumber sealed the poet’s spirit.
• The speaker has no human fears.
• The poet never felt any kind of fear before Lucy’s death.
• Slumber in this poem refers to deep sleep in the form of Death of the poet’s beloved Lucy and his ignorance to the harsh realities of life.
• Literary/ figurative device used in the title of the poem “A Slumber did my Spirit Seal” is Alliteration.
• The theme of death is revolving around in the poem.
• The poet felt grief stricken after his beloved’s death.
• Rhyming scheme of the poem- ababcdcd
• Lucy is moving with the Earth’s diurnal movement after her death.
• Lucy is not able to feel the touch of time after her death.
• Lucy was a sweet child.
• Lucy moves with rocks, stones and trees after her death.
• Total number of stanzas- 2
• Total lines 8
• The stanzas are divided into quatrains.
• Rhyme scheme – ABAB CDCD.
• Meter used in the poem- alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter.
• This is the only poem in the Lucy Poems series where Lucy is not mentioned.
• Assonance – “A Slumber Did My spirit seal “
• Alliteration- “Rolled round in Earths dismal course”.
• Paradox– ” She seemed a thing.”
• Personification: “She seemed a thing that could not feel the touch of earthly years”. He is expressing the idea of her bypassing mortality by stating years (an inanimate thing) could not physically touch her. (which also infers it is capable)
