"Sleep" is a free verse poem by Australian poet Kenneth Slessor, collected in his 1939 book Five Bells: XX Poems. Told from the point of view of a personified sleep itself, the poem depicts sleep as a soothing but temporary reprieve from the harsh realities of waking life. The poem compares sleeping to being back in the womb, a place of nourishment and comfort to which the listener must surrender themselves over entirely. In addition to describing the experience of sleep itself (and, read literally, pregnancy and birth), the poem has also been read as metaphorically depicting both sex and death.

• Read the full text of “Sleep”

• “Sleep” Summary

• “Sleep” Themes

  • 

    The Comfort and Escape of Sleep

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-21

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sleep”

  • Lines 1-5

    Do you give ...
    ... Yes, utterly.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-7

    Then I shall ...
    ... to burial mysteriously,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-11

    Take you and ...
    ... huger waves continually.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-15

    And you shall ...
    ... ride above you,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-17

    Delve in my ...
    ... embodied so –

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-21

    Till daylight, the ...
    ... of harsh birth.

    

    

    

    

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• “Sleep” Symbols

  • 

    Water and Rivers

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-7: “Then I shall bear you down my estuary, / Carry you and ferry you to burial mysteriously,”
    • Lines 10-11: “In the huge cave, my belly, lave you / With huger waves continually.”

• “Sleep” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4
    • Lines 6-21

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “utterly”
    • Line 2: “Body and no-body, flesh and no-flesh,”
    • Line 5: “utterly”
    • Line 6: “bear you”
    • Line 7: “Carry you and ferry you”
    • Line 8: “Take you and receive you”
    • Line 9: “Consume you,” “engulf you”
    • Line 10: “huge,” “lave you”
    • Line 11: “huger”
    • Line 12: “And,” “there”
    • Line 13: “And”
    • Line 14: “Beat,” “beat”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “blindly,” “bitterly”
    • Line 12: “cling,” “clamber”
    • Line 14: “Beat,” “blood's,” “beat,” “hear,” “heart”
    • Line 15: “Blindly,” “bones”
    • Line 16: “Delve,” “dissolved”
    • Line 17: “viewless,” “valves”
    • Line 19: “forth”
    • Line 20: “forceps”
    • Line 21: “betrayal,” “birth”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “flesh,” “flesh”
    • Line 3: “fugitive,” “blindly,” “bitterly”
    • Line 6: “bear,” “estuary”
    • Line 7: “Carry,” “ferry,” “burial,” “mysteriously”
    • Line 8: “receive”
    • Line 9: “Consume,” “engulf”
    • Line 10: “cave,” “belly,” “lave”
    • Line 11: “waves,” “continually”
    • Line 12: “shall,” “cling,” “clamber”
    • Line 13: “slumber,” “dumb,” “chamber”
    • Line 14: “Beat,” “blood's,” “beat,” “hear,” “heart”
    • Line 15: “Blindly,” “in,” “bones,” “ride,” “above”
    • Line 16: “Delve,” “flesh,” “dissolved,” “and,” “bedded”
    • Line 17: “viewless,” “valves,” “embodied”
    • Line 18: “Till,” “daylight,” “expulsion”
    • Line 19: “riving,” “driving,” “forth”
    • Line 20: “remorseless,” “forceps”
    • Line 21: “betrayal,” “harsh,” “birth”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “bear,” “estuary”
    • Line 7: “Carry,” “ferry,” “burial,” “mysteriously”
    • Line 9: “Consume,” “you,” “you”
    • Line 10: “huge,” “cave,” “lave,” “you”
    • Line 11: “huger,” “waves,” “continually”
    • Line 13: “slumber,” “dumb”
    • Line 15: “Blindly,” “ride”
    • Line 16: “Delve,” “flesh,” “bedded”
    • Line 19: “riving,” “driving,” “forth”
    • Line 20: “remorseless,” “forceps”
    • Line 21: “Pangs,” “betrayal”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 10-11: “In the huge cave, my belly, lave you / With huger waves continually.”
    • Lines 12-17: “And you shall cling and clamber there / And slumber there, in that dumb chamber, / Beat with my blood's beat, hear my heart move / Blindly in bones that ride above you, / Delve in my flesh, dissolved and bedded, / Through viewless valves embodied so –”
    • Lines 20-21: “Life with remorseless forceps beckoning – / Pangs”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Do you give yourself to me utterly,”
    • Line 3: “Not as a fugitive, blindly or bitterly,”
    • Line 4: “But as a child might, with no other wish?”

  • Extended Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-21

• “Sleep” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Utterly
  • Fugitive
  • Estuary
  • Ferry
  • Engulf
  • Lave
  • Clamber
  • Dumb
  • Delve
  • Dissolved
  • Embodied
  • Viewless
  • Valves
  • Expulsion
  • Riving
  • Remorseless
  • Forceps
  • Pangs
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Do you give yourself to me utterly,”; Line 5: “Yes, utterly.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sleep”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Sleep” Speaker

• “Sleep” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Sleep”

• More “Sleep” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Slessor's Life and Work — Explore a biography of Slessor and additional poems via the Poetry Foundation.

    • More About the Poet — A more in-depth look at Slessor's life.

    • In Slessor's Own Hand — A collection of Slessor's handwritten poetry drafts hosted by the National Library of Australia.

    • A Slessor Documentary — Listen to an ABC radio documentary about Slessor's life and literary contributions. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Kenneth Slessor

    • Beach Burial

    • Five Bells

    • Out of Time

    • William Street

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