Sleep

Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)



When all, and birds, and creeping beasts,
When the dark of night is deep,
From the moving wonder of their lives
Commit themselves to sleep.

Without a thought, or fear, they shut
The narrow gates of sense;
Heedless and quiet, in slumber turn
Their strength to impotence.

The transient strangeness of the earth
Their spirits no more see:
Within a silent gloom withdrawn,
They slumber in secrecy.

Two worlds they have--a globe forgot,
Wheeling from dark to light;
And all the enchanted realm of dream
That burgeons out of night.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
74

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA XXXX XBXB XCXC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 518
Words 92
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Walter de la Mare

Walter John de la Mare was an English poet short story writer and novelist best remembered for his works for children and The Listeners He was born in Kent and was educated at St Pauls Cathedral School His first book Songs of Childhood was published under the name Walter Ramal His 1921 novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction more…

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