John KeatsÆ poem ôSonnet to Sleepö reveals a speaker who seems to be appealing to sleep, but the language of the poem shows the sonnet to be a metaphor for death. Therefore, the speaker is making an appeal to death to ôseal the hushed casket of his soulö (Keats 1819, 1).
The sonnet begins with what appears to be an appeal to sleep but is actually an appeal to death. The speaker calls out to the ôO Soft embalmer of the still midnight!ö (Keats 1819, 1). KeatsÆ speaker asks this ôembalmerö to shut his ôgloom-pleased eyesö to create a condition ôEnshaded in forgetfulness divineö (Keats 1819, 1). From KeatsÆ use of language, we can see that the speaker is appealing to death, not sleep. We see this in a number of ways. First, the appeal is made to a ôSoft embalmerö (Keats 1819, 1). The fact that ôSoftö is capitalized is akin to capitalization of the Grim Reaper or Death. The fact that the speaker calls the force an ôembalmerö relates to the embalming process done to a corpse. Further, a ôdivineö forgetfulness is most akin to the eternal lack of consciousness we experience in death, never to reawaken to conscious thought. Use of the word ôdivineö illustrates the eternal-like quality of Death.
The speaker also asks Sleep (again capitalized) to take him in the middle of his ôhymnö, or to wait for the ôamenö when poppies are thrown around his bed. Once again, just as when someone dies; there is often a hymn, followed by ôamenö, before mourners throw flowers on the deceased. Finally, the speaker asks the force to ôseal the hushed casket of my soulö (Keats 1819, 1). Caskets are often ôsealedö and the use of the word ôsoulö once more symbolizes a sleep that is more akin to death than to a night of rest. Thus, by his choice of language, Keats uses sleep as a metaphor for death throughout the poem.
Keats, J. (1819). Sonnet to sleep, (Poem), 1.
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