Analysis of Sleep

James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)



Thou drowsy god, whose blurred eyes, half awink
Muse on me--, drifting out upon thy dreams,
I lave my soul as in enchanted streams
Where revelling satyrs pipe along the brink,
And tipsy with the melody they drink,
Uplift their dangling hooves, and down the beams
Of sunshine dance like motes. Thy languor seems
An ocean-depth of love wherein I sink
Like some fond Argonaut, right willingly--,
Because of wooing eyes upturned to mine,
And siren-arms that coil their sorcery
About my neck, with kisses so divine,
The heavens reel above me, and the sea
Swallows and licks its wet lips over me.


Scheme ABBAABBACDCDCC
Poetic Form
Metre 110111111 1111010111 1111100101 11110101 0101010011 10110010101 11111111 1101110111 111101100 011101111 0101111100 0111110101 0101011001 1001111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 585
Words 105
Sentences 3
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 05, 2023

31 sec read
117

James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. more…

All James Whitcomb Riley poems | James Whitcomb Riley Books

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