A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
18 pages • 36-minute read
William WordsworthA Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
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Symbols & Motifs
Sleep and Spirit Symbolize a Trance
Content Warning: This section includes child death.
When they were together, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Dorothy used to take long walks and enter, in Dorothy’s words, “trance states” (“Sister Act, a New Take on Dorothy Wordsworth”). In “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal,” the “slumber” and “spirit” (Line 1) symbolize the trance condition. The two elements work together and push the speaker into another realm. Dazed and possessed by something otherworldly, the speaker acquires an invulnerable feeling, like they’re not human. The symbolism is inseparable from the girl. The “trance” allows the speaker to see the girl and her supernatural transformation from a young person to a part of nature. The dreamlike atmosphere starts with the “slumber” and “spirit”; each entity represents ethereal conditions.
The symbolism remains when the interpretation turns the “she” into the speaker’s spirit. The spirit and sleep work together to advance the former. As the spirit grows stronger, the speaker feels more invulnerable. Human time—“earthly years” (Line 4)—can’t touch them. Relieved of agency, the speaker doesn’t have to plan their days or worry about what comes next. Possessed by nature, the speaker has no worries. The trance state allows both retreat from pain and immersion in a world governed by larger, natural rhythms. Their pastoral trance liberates them from human concerns.
Rocks, Stones, and Trees Symbolize Nature’s Authority
The rocks, trees, and stones represent nature’s power. Without nature, all three are dormant. The trio requires nature to move. The wind, an agent of nature, has the authority to “roll” the rocks and stones and shake the tree’s branches and leaves. More so, through lightning or a natural disaster, nature can destroy trees. Conversely, with sun and rain, nature can grow trees. Thus, none of the three elements are categorically inactive. They have mobility, but they can’t operate independently from nature. In the poem, nature is an all-powerful ruler, so it controls its subjects. Once the girl dies, the speaker connects her to the rocks, trees, and stones. The same formula applies. Death doesn’t represent rest or stillness. The girl, like the three elements, has mobility, but nature determines how she moves. She’s “[r]olled around in earth’s diurnal course” (Line 7). She’s in motion because nature’s daily route propels her. Her transformation is not one of stillness but of surrender—to be carried by the earth’s slow, eternal movement.
The Girl Symbolizes Innocence
Alive and dead, the girl represents innocence. As the girl doesn’t live to an older age, she doesn’t bear the marks of experience or maturation. Whether the experiences are good, bad, or somewhere in between, the girl remains a symbol of purity. The speaker reinforces her spotless condition when they announce, “She seemed a thing that could not feel / The touch of earthly years” (Lines 3-4). The “earthly years” represent experience; they don’t “touch” the girl’s skin, so the girl, as a human, represents purity.
Once she dies, the girl continues to represent innocence. Lacking “force” (Line 5) and the capacity to see and hear, the girl can’t be a positive influence; at the same time, she can’t hurt anyone. As she’s ruled by nature, the girl lacks agency. She can’t move herself, so her actions don’t reflect her will but the power of nature. In this state, she becomes a Romantic emblem of blamelessness—free of both responsibility and suffering. She’s devoid of the burden and capabilities that inevitably sully people and make them impure.
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