analysis of poe poem "the sleeper"

greenspun.com : LUSENET : The Work of Edgar Allan Poe : One Thread

i need an analysis of the poem "the sleeper" give anything similes, metaphors, imagery, etc. need this ASAP!!!!!

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2001

Answers

Formerly named "Irene"(1831), the greek goddess promoting concord and unity, the name meaning "peaceful",or St. Irene who lived as a monk cutting her golden hair, dressing in animal skins,destined to be Queen or religious servant, a spiritual beacon of inner light.(this version can be found at www.eapoe.org. along with some articles. (Compare "To Helen"(early poem) "Ululame" "Annabel Lee"later poems) The image is primarily of a young woman, sleeping beauty, undisturbed by the airs and movements of nature.

The disturbing nature of his observation. The sleeper needs a place of more proection, more finality- the tomb with doors like wings(vampire wings in Irene). The tying of the memory of a little girl who tosses stones against the family vault in superstitious dread to he final placement within. So Poe idealizes and wonders at the bright beauty preserved so still and at the same time would have it sealed away for eternal protection? Around this central metaphor of ideal beauty preserved and at rest, neither dead no alive but trapped between in a dreamland, lie the images of a June evening, the garden, the lands and warm winds, the pines lightly rocking around her. Then the forest and the cemetery vault. Specifics are not so hard as trying to get the gist of the poem as a whole or to express the strange mood it creates, the wonder and dread, the innocent ideal beset by a dangerous world and the finality and darkness of death.

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2001


Moderation questions? read the FAQ