A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

Thinking about the Poem

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?

“A slumber did my spirit seal” says the poet. It is a little difficult to decide if the poet felt bitter grief or peace. He says that his soul has been sealed due to his loved one’s death and that he does not have any human fears. He talks about how his loved one seemed now- motionless and beyond the passage of time.

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

The lines of the poem that say this are:

“She seemed 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?

The poet imagines her to be immersed in the earth. He feels that she has become a part of the earth’s daily course and rolled along with the rocks, stones and trees.

The lines of the poem that we find our answer in are:

“Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course

With rocks and stones and trees.”