Student Number: 14019607 Tutor: Jonathon Shears

ENG-20033

Romanticisms Short Paper

This essay will analyse Samuel Taylor Colerige’s The Pains of Sleep, paying
particular attention to imagery, form, and the themes and messages Coleridge
expresses through the poem.

The first stanza, as Wedd writes, seems “to be a most beautiful, touching and gentle
description of a human soul, aware of its own inadequacy, relaxing and submitting
with complete trust to a higher power.”1 The purpose of this first stanza is to lull the
reader into a false sense of security by describing a familiar scene—a person
readying themselves for sleep; “In humble trust mine eye-lids close / With reverential
resignation / No wish conceived / no thought exprest.” 2 The language which
Coleridge employs creates an atmosphere of an almost idyllic tranquillity and quiet
reflection. It is written in such a way that deceives the reader; the impression is that
the narrator (Coleridge himself) is the safe hands of this ‘higher power.’ There is little
foreshadowing of the stanzas that are to come. Instead, the reader is given a serene
image of a reposed man.

In reference to form it is also important to note the heavy use of sibilants within the
passage, “limbs,” “lips”, “knees” “slow”. Coleridge’s use of gentle sounds also helps
to set the tranquil tone and relax the reader. It is also important to mention
Coleridge’s use of iambic tetrameter. Each line is made up of four iambic feet and
this slows the poem down to a calm pace, though in the following stanzas the effect
is not so much to create a calm atmosphere, but rather to draw out Coleridge’s
suffering and create a sense of torturous agony.

As Wedd notes, the narrator places “complete trust to a higher power,” that is, God.
This is largely evident through the semantic field of religion, “supplication,” “soul,”
unblest.” Barth quotes an apt phrase from Coleridge’s notes, which describes “the
effect to connect the misery of Self with the blessedness of God.” 3 Religion in this
first stanza almost seems to be romanticized–and therefore, it could be argued that
the religious references are used for creative purposes. Barth also discusses how
God can be recognized through an imaginative experience. Although it is important
to consider that contextually Coleridge was certainly a religious man, having stated
in a letter to John Thelwall “there is an Omnipresent Father of infinite power, wisdom,
& Goodness, in whom we all of us move, & have our being.” 4

If Coleridge did indeed believe that God took such an active involvement in the
world, this would explain the Coleridge’s ready submission to a higher power and
1
Wedd, Mary, ‘The Pains of Sleep’, Coleridge Bulletin, 25(2005),1–14,
2
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, The Pains of Sleep. Christabel; Kubla Khan: A Vision; The Pains of Sleep (1816) Wu,
Duncan. Romanticism: An Anthology The Fourth Edition. Oxford, England: Wiley- Blackwell, 2012, p. 701.
3
Barth, J. Robert, S.J. Romanticism and Transcendence University of Missouri Press 2003 p.90
4
Griggs, Earl Leslie, The Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge 6 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1956- 71). P. 335

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what seems to be almost a relinquishment of his autonomy in the first stanza.

However, this is also important to consider this within the second stanza. In contrast
to the opening of the poem, the second stanza contains a rather notable shift in tone.
Coleridge’s peaceful rest is abruptly disturbed, though interestingly Coleridge
attributes this to outside forces, despite the fact one would assume Coleridge’s
torment to come from within. He shifts the blame onto a “fiendish crowd / Of shapes
and thoughts that tortured me.”5 This suggests that the nightmares do not originate
from his own consciousness, but rather from some sort of external power.

One conclusion which could be drawn from this is that the nightmares could be a
product of Coleridge’s opium addiction. However, it would be all too easy to dismiss
the poem as an account of an opium-fuelled nightmare. Although one critic, Holmes,
has purported that the verses “do not present opium visions, as is often thought, but
the night-horrors which accompanied withdrawal symptoms from the drug.” 6 I would
argue this by claiming Coleridge did not necessarily believe these nightmares to be a
consequence of his opium use, but rather, some sort of ‘evil spirit’ – a belief known
to be held by a number of Coleridge’s friends, 7 and a theory Coleridge himself was
fond of. In Coleridge’s notes he writes that he supposes “the Figures in my Dream to
be, or to be assumed by, the Malignant Spirits themselves, 8 and this is further
supported by the fact that Coleridge’s nightmares predate his opium addiction. It is
documented that Coleridge was plagued by nightmares as early as the age of seven,
having said himself: “I was haunted by spectres whenever I was in the dark” after
having read a copy of The Arabian Nights.9

In regards to the themes of the poem, the narrator is placed into a passive role from
the beginning and this becomes more prominent throughout the later stanzas. He is
at mercy to these ‘evil spirits.’ The poem aptly conveys Coleridge’s anguish and
sense of powerlessness against these invasive dreams. He becomes delirious, “All
confused I could not know / Whether I suffered or I did.” There is a sense of
confusion and bewilderment, and the final stanza portrays Coleridge’s sense of
helplessness, “Such griefs with such men well agree / but wherefore, wherefore fall
on me?”–He laments the fact that he should be made to suffer despite having done
no wrong. There is a sense of Coleridge feeling some sort of shame for having
committed a sin, despite not knowing the very nature of that sin: “Such punishments,
I said, were due / To natures deepliest stained with sin.” Although one argument
which could be made is that the sin in question is tied to Coleridge’s opium addiction,
and the shame described results from his desire to leave it. However, this theme is

5
Coleridge. The Pains of Sleep.
6
Holmes, Richard. Coleridge: Early Visions Hodder and Stoughton 1989 pp.354-5
7
Ford, Jennifer. Coleridge on Dreaming: Romanticism, Dreams and the Medical Imagination (Cambridge
Studies in Romanticism) 1997. P. 142
8
Coleridge, Sarnuel Taylor. The Notebooks ofSamuel Taylor Coleridge. Ed. Kathleen Coburn, Merton
Christensen and Anthony John Harding. 5 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, etc., 1957-2002
9
Holmes, p.11

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also apparent in Coleridge’s other works. Similarly in his unfinished poem

Christabel–which also contains references to dreams and sleep–the heroine laments
“sure I have sinned!”10 It is curious that the heroine too suffers from restless sleep,
and it becomes evident that both narrators share this feeling of having committed an
unknown sin which they are unaware of.

To conclude, at the centre of the poem, The Pains of Sleep seems to provide an
insightful exploration into Coleridge’s psyche. Whether or not the poem is merely an
opium-dream or an interesting examination of Coleridge’s unconscious mind is
debatable–though I would personally argue that Coleridge’s imagination cannot
simply be ascribed to a result of his opium usage. The Pains of Sleep is a romantic
yet grievous poem which provides a harrowing picture of Coleridge’s struggle to find
peace.

Wordcount: 1,050

Bibliography

10
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, The Pains of Sleep. Christabel; Kubla Khan: A Vision; The Pains of Sleep (1816) Wu,
Duncan. Romanticism: An Anthology The Fourth Edition. Oxford, England: Wiley- Blackwell, 2012, p. 669

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ENG-20033

 Barth, J. Robert, S.J. Romanticism and Transcendence University of Missouri Press 2003 p.90
 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, The Pains of Sleep. Christabel; Kubla Khan: A Vision; The Pains of Sleep
(1816) Wu, Duncan. Romanticism: An Anthology The Fourth Edition. Oxford, England: Wiley-
Blackwell, 2012.
 Ford, Jennifer. Coleridge on Dreaming: Romanticism, Dreams and the Medical Imagination
(Cambridge Studies in Romanticism) 1997. P. 142
 Griggs, Earl Leslie, The Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge 6 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1956- 71). P. 335
 Holmes, Richard. Coleridge: Early Visions Hodder and Stoughton 1989 pp.354-5
 Wedd, Mary, ‘The Pains of Sleep’, Coleridge Bulletin, 25(2005),1–14,

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