Edger A. Poe's "The Sleeper": A Textual Analysis
In 1846, American author and poet Edgar A. Poe wrote in "The Philosophy of Composition" that the most melancholy of all topics, "according to the universal understanding of mankind" which serves as the foundation for poetry is death. Poe then asks himself, "And when is this most melancholy of topics the most poetical?" The obvious answer for Poe is "When it most closely allies itself to Beauty," i.e., "the death of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world," especially when the narrator of the poem is that of a bereaved lover" (Mabbott, 679). Thus, in Poe's "The Sleeper," originally entitled as "Irene" in 1831 and then changed several times over the years up until 1845, the main subject matter is the death of a beautiful woman, an unknown (or perhaps imaginary) fair lady who will never awake from her death-sleep. In order to extrapolate on the topic of the death of a beautiful woman, Poe utilizes various symbols and metaphors which informs the reader on just how melancholy death truly is, particularly when it is that of a loved one who sleeps in eternity beyond the veil of life. As is typical of many of his poems written throughout his short life, Poe begins "The Sleeper" by describing the physica
The narrator also relates that his late lover is dreaming in death, a sign that her spirit still lives. , her "tall vault" (line 49), will open up by folding back its "black/And winged pannels," being the doors of her tomb. In contrast to these lines, the narrator appears to accept the fact that his dear departed lover is truly dead, for he hopes that "Oh, may her sleep/Which is enduring, so be deep!" (lines 37-38) and may Heaven "have her in its sacred keep!" (line 39). The narrator then proceeds to describe in more detail the physical surroundings of the funeral parlor in which the body of his deceased beloved lies in death. Obviously, the narrator utilizes this metaphor as way to help him forget about his departed loved one who although dead is still beautiful, at least in his own mind. Thus, "All Beauty sleeps!--and lo! Where lies/Irene with her Destinies!" (lines 16-17). The narrator also hopes that Irene "may lie/Forever with unopened eye/While the pale sheeted ghosts go by!" (lines 42-44) which shows that the narrator is perhaps haunted by the idea that Irene "the sleeper" may not be truly at rest, much like the ghosts which surround her casket amid "This bed for one more melancholy" (line 41). It is interesting to note that in Poe's original version of "Irene" that he mentions the doors of her tomb as having "vampyre-winged pannels/Flutt'ring triumphant o'er the palls/Of her old family funerals" (Mabbott, 185, lines 72-74), an indication that Irene "the sleeper" may be a vampire which would clearly explain why the narrator continually refers to her rising from the dead. In the end, Poe seems to support this idea when he exclaims in the last line "It was the dead who groaned within" (line 60). But then which is typical of the poems of Edgar Poe, the narrator goes off on a strange tangent by discussing what may happen to his dear departed in the grave. l realms in which his deceased loved one dwells-"At midnight, in the month of June/I stand beneath the mystic moon" (lines 1-2) which indicates that Poe the narrator is speaking in real time terms. First of all, he hopes that "Soft may the worms about her creep/Far in the forest, dim and old" (lines 47-48), meaning that the worms associated with death and decay in the grave will hopefully be kind to her remains so that her beauty continues even in death. This "opiate vapour" represents some type of magical substance which the narrator hopes will fall upon the lifeless body of his dear departed and bring her back to life.
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