The sleeping one

Illustration by Hugh Noel . Published in 1900.

Spoken version

Die Schlafende (Original title: The Sleeper ) is a ballad by Edgar Allan Poe . An early version was published in 1831 under the title Irene . A revision appeared in the Broadway Journal on May 3, 1845 , to which the article also refers. It is a love poem to a deceased woman and was probably inspired by the poem Cristabel (1797–1800) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834). Poe himself considered it one of his best works until his death.

Form and content

The poem consists of 4 stanzas of 17, 19, 8 and 16 (in total 60) lines. Its shape is on the one hand very clear and consistent in terms of rhyme and metrics, on the other hand it is vague, agitated and elusive in terms of atmosphere and perspective.

In the first stanza the lyrical self describes a scene on a lonely mountain around midnight. The haze, a lily, a lake and a ruin are personified as sleeping or moving very carefully. Irene rests between all sleeping beauty.

In the second stanza the lady is asked twice by the lyric self if she doesn't find the surroundings strange too. After the first questioning, personified skies fleeing a curse and moving shadows are described. After the second questioning, the lyrical ego leads a monologue in which it expresses its astonishment at the appearance of the lady in this environment. In the end, what alienates him most is the silence and the lack of an answer to his questions. This monologue can be seen as a turning point in the ballad.

In the third stanza, the lyrical ego withdraws back into first-person perspective. It states that the lady is sleeping and hopes that her sleep will be as sound and protected as possible. In contrast to the other stanzas, it is the only one with a symmetrical disposition, but just as diametrically opposite is the only metrical alteration in the whole ballad (3:39). On the one hand, the lyric self is clear about the death of the beloved, on the other hand it is completely uncertain about the adequacy of its hopes regarding their condition.

The fourth stanza breaks with the atmosphere. The lyrical self again recognizes the death of the beloved, but now wishes the worms to crawl over them. Instead of Heaven's Safe Castle (3:39), you should now hand a crypt as deep as possible to the tomb, against the gate of which she may have thrown a useless stone in her childhood. May it never echo again. It is quite horrible to imagine that it was the dead who whispered in the crypt instead of the stone.

Analytical Notes

Perspective and attitude

The ballad tells the story and the impressions from a first-person perspective . The narrative , on the other hand, is extremely difficult to grasp and is subject to constant change throughout the entire ballad. While the lyrical self initially romanticizes the atmosphere and the death of its beloved, and makes comparisons with a state of rest and sleep, a negative attitude of alienation, silence and fear towards the situation soon arises: what as a The midnight walk began, now reveals a deep, repressed psychological crisis of the lyrical self. By speaking directly to himself, he tries to control them and his mind. In the end, there is the desperate pleading to the appropriate authorities and the overwhelming fear that the loved one might not have found peace, and of the implications for one's own afterlife, which he directs to the reader.

Rhyme and metric

The rhyme and metric of the ballad are kept very simple and clear. With the first pair of rhymes, the scheme is practically given for the entire work. It is only broken in individual places and then taken up again and again. The rigid design of the two parameters is in complete contrast to the emotional and atmospheric movements within the piece, which constitutes an effect of alienation .

rhyme

The entire ballad consists of mostly male, pure pair rhymes, occasionally, seemingly by chance, heaps of rhymes consisting of 3 verses are found. The first stanza has an eye rhyme (1:17). In contrast to the others, the third stanza is the only one with a symmetrical rhyme structure. ( aaa bb ccc ) In addition to vocal rhymes, the poem also works very intensively with alliterations .

Metric

The entire ballad consists of iambic tetrameters with only a fraction at 3:39 ( catalectic - pentametric trochee ).

text

row	text	Feet	meter	rhyme	figure	translation
1: 1	At midnight, in the month of June,	4th	J	A.	Allied rhyme (S)	At midnight on a June night
1: 2	I stood beneath the mystic moon.	4th	J	A.	S.	I stand under the mystical moon
1: 3	An opiate vapor, dewy, dim,	4th	J	B.	S.	A beguiling smoke, dewy and vague,
1: 4	Exhales from out her golden rim,	4th	J	B.		rises from her golden wreath.
1: 5	And, softly dripping, drop by drop,	4th	J	C.	S.	Gently trickles drop by drop,
1: 6	Upon the quiet mountain top,	4th	J	C.		To the quiet mountain peak
1: 7	Steals drowsily and musically	4th	J	D.		And steals sleepily and with music
1: 8	Into the universal valley.	4th	J	D.		Into the eternal valley.
1: 9	The rosemary nods upon the grave;	4th	J	E.		The rosemary buds on the grave
1:10	The lily lolls upon the wave;	4th	J	E.	S.	The lily lolls on the wave;
1:11	Wrapping the fog about its breast,	4th	J	F.		Bed with mist around her breast
1:12	The ruin molders into rest;	4th	J	F.		The ruin fades into silence;
1:13	Looking like Lethe , see! the lake	4th	J	G	S.	Look like Lethe and See! The sea,
1:14	A conscious slumber seems to take,	4th	J	G	S.	Seems to be taking a conscious nap.
1:15	And would not, for the world, awake.	4th	J	G	S.	Would not wake up at the cost of the world.
1:16	All beauty sleeps! - and lo! where lies	4th	J	H	S.	All beauty rest and see! Where is
	(Her Casement opened to the skies -)	4th	J	H		Your cave open to the sky -
1:17	Irene, with her Destinies!	4th	J	(H)		also Irene with her fate
.
2:18	O, lady bright! can it be right -	4th	J	A.	Inside rhyme , apostrophes	Oh, radiant lady, can it be true -
2:19	This window open to the night?	4th	J	A.		That this window is open at night?
2:20	The wanton airs, from the tree-top,	4th	J	B.	S.	The bold air comes from the treetops
2:21	Laughingly through the lattice drop -	4th	J	B.		Giggling through the bars.
2:22	The bodiless airs, a wizard rout,	4th	J	C.	Anaphor	The disembodied skies that flee from a wizard
2:23	Flit through thy chamber in and out,	4th	J	C.		Scurry in and out of your chamber.
2:24	And wave the curtain canopy	4th	J	D.	S.	And blow through the curtain; the sky tent
2:25	So fitfully - so fearfully -	4th	J	D.	S.	So inconsistent - so full of fear -
2:26	Above the closed and fringed lid	4th	J	E.		About the closed and lined lid,
2:27	'Neath which thy slumb'ring soul lies hid,	4th	J	E.	S.	Where your soul lies slumbering underneath
2:28	That, o'er the floor and down the wall,	4th	J	F.		Where over the floor and down the wall
2:29	Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall!	4th	J	F.		The ghosts rise and fall like shadows.
2:30	Oh, lady dear, do you have no fear?	4th	J	G	Apostrophes	Oh, lady dear, aren't you afraid?
2:31	Why and what art thou dreaming here?	4th	J	G		What and why are you dreaming here?
2:32	Sure thou art come O'er far-off seas,	4th	J	H		Sure you've come across seas far away
2:33	A wonder to these garden trees!	4th	J	H		As a miracle of these garden trees.
2:34	Strange is your pallor! strange thy dress,	4th	J	I.	Anaphor	Your pallor is strange, your dress strange,
2:35	Strange, above all, your length of tress,	4th	J	I.		Strangely beyond anything the length of your locks,
2:36	And this all solemn silentness!	4th	J	I.	S.	And all this lonely silence.
.
3:37	The lady sleeps! Oh, may her sleep,	4th	J	A.	Epipher	The lady is sleeping! Oh, be her sleep
3:38	Which is enduring, so be deep!	4th	J	A.		That lasts, therefore also deep!
3:39	Heaven have her in its sacred keep!	5	T	A.	S.	Heaven keep her in its safe lock!
3:40	This chamber changed for one more holy,	4th	J	B.	S.	Traded this chamber for a holier one
3:41	This bed for one more melancholy,	4th	J	B.	S.	This bed for a more melancholy one
3:42	I pray to God that she may lie	4th	J	C.		So I pray to God that she lies here
3:43	For ever with unopened eye,	4th	J	C.		Forever with an unopened eye
3:44	While the pale sheeted ghosts go by!	4th	J	C.		And let the pale shrouded ghosts pass by!
.
4:45	My love, she sleeps! Oh, may her sleep	4th	J	A.	Epipher	My love is sleeping! Oh, be her sleep
4:46	As it is lasting, so be deep!	4th	J	A.		Because it lasts, therefore also deep!
4:47	Soft may the worms about her creep!	4th	J	A.		Let the worms crawl gently over them!
4:48	Far in the forest, dim and old,	4th	J	B.	S.	Deep in the dark and old woods
4:49	For her may some tall vault unfold -	4th	J	B.	Internal rhyme	May a deep tomb unfold to her -
4:50	Some vault that oft has flung its black	4th	J	C.	Anadiplosis	A crypt that often echoed its black,
4:51	And winged panels fluttering back,	4th	J	C.		Winged tables, fluttering back,
4:52	Triumphant, o'er the crested palls,	4th	J	D.		Triumphant over the adorning shrouds,
4:53	Of her grand family funerals -	4th	J	D.		Funerals of your honorable family -
4:54	Some sepulcher, remote, alone,	4th	J	E.		A dark, remote and deserted one
4:55	Against whose portal she hath thrown,	4th	J	E.		Thrown against their gate
4:56	In childhood, many an idle stone -	4th	J	E.		Many a useless stone in childhood.
4:57	Some tomb from out whose sounding door	4th	J	F.		A grave from its echoing gate,
4:58	She ne'er shall force an echo more,	4th	J	F.		May never echo from her.
4:59	Thrilling to think, poor child of sin!	4th	J	G	S, apostrophes	Creepy to think, poor, lonely child of sin!
4:60	It was the dead who groaned within.	4th	J	G		That it was the dead who whispered in it!

Trivia

"In the higher qualities of poetry, it is better than The Raven - but there is not one man in a million who could be brought to agree with me in this opinion."

- Poe to a reader 1849

In the Dead Lovers' Sarabande of the Frankfurt music project Sopor Aeternus , the song, which uses Poe's text, occupies a central position.

bibliography

• Heartman, Charles F., and James R. Canny: A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
• Hunter, WB: "Poe's 'The Sleeper' and Macbeth." American Literature, May 1949, 20: 55-57
• Kiehl, James: Valley of Unrest: A Major Metaphor in the Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. Thoth, Winter 1964, 5: 42-52
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive: Poe's 'The Sleeper' Again. American Literature, Nov. 1949, 21: 339-340
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive (Ed.): The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass .: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.

Web links

Wikisource: The Sleeper (original English text)  - sources and full texts

• Study Guide by Michael J. Cummings ( 2006 )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry in American Libraries
2. ↑ ^{a b} Documentation at the EA Poe Society
3. ↑ Campbell, Killis. "The Origins of Poe," The Mind of Poe and Other Studies . New York: Russell & Russell, Inc., 1962: 154.
4. ^ Removed again in later manuscripts by Poe in 1849.
5. ↑ Translation: "This poem fulfills the higher qualities of poetry even more than The Raven - But among a million people I would not find anyone who would agree with me on this point." Analogous statement in the correspondence with James Russell Lowell in 1844