Poetry · Chapter
X: To Sleep explained
The speaker addresses Sleep as a deity, seeking a peaceful, hidden sanctuary in nature where a secret altar can be built to offer sacrifice.
What happens
The speaker addresses Sleep as a deity, seeking a peaceful, hidden sanctuary in nature where a secret altar can be built to offer sacrifice. The prayer asks for dreams, oblivion from pain, and a gentle, unmasked death at dusk.
Themes in this chapter
Mortality and Transience
The poem directly addresses death as a homecoming and asks for a peaceful, unmasked passage.
Nature vs. Spirit
The speaker seeks a natural sanctuary—a hidden wood, ocean, and sea sod—as a setting for spiritual sacrifice and communion with Sleep.
Characters to notice
- Dymer
The speaker, presumably Dymer, prays to Sleep for solace and a gentle end.
Key passages
“I will find out a place for thee, O Sleep— A hidden wood among the hill-tops green, Full of soft streams and little winds that creep The murmuring boughs between.”
I will discover a secluded forest for you, Sleep, nestled among green hilltops, filled with gentle streams and breezes that whisper through the branches.
The speaker promises to create a perfect natural refuge for the god Sleep.
“So may he send me dreams of dear delight And draughts of cool oblivion, quenching pain, And sweet, half-wakeful moments in the night To hear the falling rain.”
May Sleep grant me joyful dreams and refreshing forgetfulness that eases suffering, along with pleasant, drowsy intervals at night to listen to the rain.
The speaker asks for both pleasant dreams and relief from pain through sleep.
“And when he meets me at the dusk of day To call me home for ever, this I ask— That he may lead me friendly on that way And wear no frightful mask.”
And when Sleep comes for me at twilight to summon me to my eternal home, I only request that he guide me kindly and not appear terrifying.
The speaker prays for a gentle death, personified as Sleep, without fear or horror.