Christina Rossetti's Sleeping at Last: Exploring the Rejuvenating Effects of Sleep

In her poem Sleeping at Last, Christina Rossetti imaginatively explores the idea of an eternally peaceful slumber that replaces the "trouble and tumult" (2) of life. The speaker in the poem refers to a "her" twice in line 9, alluding to the fact that the speaker and "her" are one and the same, both longing for a blissful escape from "a tired heart downcast" (5). The speaker desires rest and the poem is a description of what serenity she will feel once she is "Sleeping at last" (11).

The American Heritage Dictionary defines sleep as a "natural periodic state of rest for the mind and body, in which the eyes usually close and consciousness is completely or partially lost, so that there is a decrease in bodily movement and responsiveness to external stimuli." Furthermore, in the Muslim religion, death and sleep are synonymous and the body experiences a "soul sleep" when one dies. According to Near-Death.com, "death is the complete end of physical life and the beginning of a period of rest until the day of resurrection." It is clearly this "end of physical life" (Near-Death.com) and lack of response "to external stimuli" (American Heritage) that the speaker so desperately wishes for as she pleads to the god of sleep for a release from her pain and anguish. "Her" use of repetition in the poem further exemplifies "her" desperation. She repeats "Sleeping at last" five times and "no more" twice in the same stanza to illustrate the urgency of her situation.

The theme of sleep/death in "Sleeping at Last" is similar to the ideas expressed by Hamlet in Shakespeare's play of the same name. In Act 3, Scene 1, Hamlet unleashes his famous soliloquy and utters the words "To die: to sleep;/ No more; and by a sleep to say we end/ The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks" (3.1 59-61). Hamlet's poignant words expressing his overwhelming grief echoes the feelings of the speaker in "Sleeping at Last:" "Sleeping at last, the struggle & horror past" (2). Both she and Hamlet seek eternal sleep as a way to leave their pain behind. However, Hamlet expresses uncertainty about ending his life on earth: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come" (3.1 65). He is fearful of the unknown unlike the speaker in Rossetti's poem. She expresses no fear or hesitation, just the absolute certainty that she will be "in a dreamless sleep locked fast" (7).

Another interesting feature of Rossetti's poem is the internal rhyme that is present throughout. In line 9 she writes. "Cannot wake her, nor shake her." Internal rhyme has a childish feeling which lends a juvenile air to the poem as if a child were singing a song. This childishness makes the speaker appear innocent and helpless. The poem is also a rondel, meaning that the first line and the last line are the same, bringing the theme of the poem full circle with the line "Sleeping at last." The use of rondel reiterates the speaker's overwhelming desire for sleep.

Rossetti also makes use of sound and image. In line 8 she refers to "singing birds in their leafy cover," a metaphor for birds in the tress and the idea of being tucked away beneath a safe secure place. Rossetti similarly invokes that same feeling of security with the image of a blissful slumber while nestling "Under the purple thyme and the purple clover" (10). Each of the literary techniques that Rossetti employs contributes immensely to the overall theme of death as sleep with the reassuring images of comfort and serenity that they produce.

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

"Near-death Experiences of Muslims." Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife. 2006. 29 Oct. 2006. www.near-death.com/muslim.html.

Rossetti, Christina. "Sleeping at Last." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Volume 2. Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 2000. 1604.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. 2006. 29 Oct. 2006. www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/hamlet/.