A slumber did my spirit seal
- “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?
Ans: The poet does not express bitter grief but rather a sense of numbness or calm acceptance. The “slumber” refers to a lack of emotional response—he is not shaken by tears or violent sorrow, but instead feels a peaceful stillness. His spirit is “sealed,” suggesting a resignation or tranquility rather than overwhelming pain.
- The passing of time will no longer affect her, says the poet. Which lines of the poem say this?
Ans: The lines that convey this idea are:
“She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.”
These lines show that, after death, she is beyond the effect of time—she will not grow older or experience any changes brought by time.
- 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?
Ans: The poet imagines her as a part of nature, not as a person enjoying a blissful afterlife. This idea is expressed in the lines:
“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.”
These lines suggest she has become one with the earth and its natural elements, indicating she is now simply a part of nature, not living in a personal or heavenly state.