Sleep
Godhead’s lip hangsWhen our pulses have no golden tremors,And his whips are flicked by miceAnd all star-amorous things.
Drops, drops of shivering quietFilter under my lids.Now only am I powerful.What though the cunning gods outwit us hereIn daytime and in playtime,Surely they feel the gyves we lay on themIn our sleep.
O, subtle gods lying hidden!O, gods with your oblique eyes!Your elbows in the dawn, and wristsBright with the afternoon,Do you not shake when a mortal slidesInto your own unvexed peace?
When a moving stillness breaks over your knees(An emanation of piled æons’ pressures),From our bodies flat and straight,And your limbs are locked,Futilely gods,And shut your sinister essences?
Words in this poem
- outwit n.
- The faculty of acquiring wesdom by observation and experience, or the wisdom so acquired; -- opposed to inwit. Piers Plowman.
- playtime n.
- Time for play or diversion.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- futilely adv.
- In a futile manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sleep is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Isaac Rosenberg, Project Gutenberg ebook #66889; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Isaac Rosenberg, Sleep, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66889, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rosenberg-poems/sleep.html, id L02544.
Form and metre
Sleep is 23 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 3 A--A-- hiddenA · eyes · wrists · afternoonA · slides · peace
- 4 AA---- kneesA · pressuresA · straight · locked · gods · essences
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Godhead’s lip hangs | 4 | /··· |
| When our pulses have no golden tremors, | 10 | ·//˘··/˘/˘ |
| And his whips are flicked by mice | 7 | ······· |
| And all star-amorous things. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Drops, drops of shivering quiet | 6 | ···/˘/ |
| Filter under my lids. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Now only am I powerful. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| What though the cunning gods outwit us here | 10 | ···/˘·/··· |
| In daytime and in playtime, | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| Surely they feel the gyves we lay on them | 10 | /˘········ |
| In our sleep. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| O, subtle gods lying hidden! | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| O, gods with your oblique eyes! | 7 | ····˘/· |
| Your elbows in the dawn, and wrists | 8 | ·/······ |
| Bright with the afternoon, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Do you not shake when a mortal slides | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Into your own unvexed peace? | 7 | ······· |
| When a moving stillness breaks over your knees | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| (An emanation of piled æons’ pressures), | 10 | ··˘/˘···/˘ |
| From our bodies flat and straight, | 7 | ·//˘··· |
| And your limbs are locked, | 6 | ·····˘ |
| Futilely gods, | 4 | /˘˘· |
| And shut your sinister essences? | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.