The Beauty of Poetry and Sleep

Spring is finally upon us. Blossom is falling, daffodils are sprouting and the weather could finally be getting warmer. The last part may just be wishful thinking, but we are most definitely in April now, and with that comes National Poetry Month. Now, this may be an American celebration of all things poetic, but here at Time 4 Sleep, we reckon that Britain is home to many a good poet too, many of whom have written some incredible verse on all things sleep related. Though there is no disputing the likes on American poet Edgar Allan Poe and his beautiful work of A Dream Within a Dream, we feel that UK writers such as Shakespeare and Keats can give any American poet a run for their ink when it comes to articulating the complicated nature of sleep. Here, we're going to look at some of the poems penned by the Great British writers of our time, and take a peek at some quotes that might just explain their thoughts and opinions on sleep. Who knows, we might find some hints as to how best embrace a good night's sleep too… Shakespeare There are few that will even attempt to refute Shakespeare's impact on the literary world. From Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet, the Bard is known worldwide for creating complex characters with stories that twist and turn to a climatic point. One of his most eloquent passages on sleep (though it's near impossible to select just one) appears in Sonnet 27. 'Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, The dear repose for limbs with travail tired; But then begins a journey in my head To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired.' The sonnet (an extract of which is featured above, though you can read the whole sonnet with an analysis on Sparknotes) outlines the actuality of life and sleep – that we arrive home tired from work, and want to get into bed as soon as we can. Only, sometimes we're met by thoughts that prevent us from getting the good night's sleep we need. Oh how right you are, Billy. Keats John Keats is a very different kind of writer to Shakespeare – he contributed to the romantic poetry genre – but still offers up his own reflection and opinions on the nature of sleep. His work comments on sleep and dreams fairly often, but it is in To Sleep in which we truly see Keats' understanding of sleep – it's also the first time we witness him use the personal pronoun of 'my' and 'me'. '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,' Whilst there are many ways of interpreting the poem (you can read the full version at the Poetry Foundation), one of the most popular analyses of the poem is that Keats is showing how sleep is one of the greatest pleasures available to man. When we sleep, our minds are free and worries take a back seat. That's a notion that we very much agree with too.