Analysis of Sonnet To Sleep

John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)



O soft embalmer of the still midnight!
Shutting, with careful fingers and benign,
Our gloom-pleas'd eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine;
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close,
In midst of this thine hymn, my willing eyes.
Or wait the Amen, ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities;
Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes;
Save me from curious conscience, that still hoards
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards,
And seal the hushed casket of my soul.


Scheme ABABCDEFBEGHGH
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011 1011010001 101111101 10101 111111111 0111111101 1100111101 0111110100 111101111 0111010101 11110010111 11110100101 101100011 010110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 588
Words 105
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 467
Words per stanza (avg) 103
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 10, 2023

32 sec read
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John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. more…

All John Keats poems | John Keats Books

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