Question 1:
‘A slumber did my spirit seal,’ says the poet. That is, a deep sleep ‘closed off ’ his soul (or mind). How does the poet react to his loved one’s death ? Does he feel bitter grief ? Or does he feel a great peace ?
Answer:
The poet is in a state of deep shock. The death of the loved one has given him deep grief. But there is a sense of relief also. The loved one is now beyond any earthly fears. She has become a part of the whole cosmos.
Question 2:
The passing of time will no longer affect her, says the poet. Which lines of the poem say this ?
Answer:
She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years.
Question 3:
How does the poet imagine her to be after death ? Does he think of her as a person living in a very happy state (a ‘heaven’) ? Or does he see her now as a part of Nature ? In which lines of the poem do you find your answer ?
Answer:
The poet imagines his beloved to be beyond any feelings of joy or sorrow. He thinks that she has become a part of Nature itself. Says the poet, She neither hears nor sees, Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course With rocks and stones and trees.
Question 4:
What is Wordsworth referring to when he uses the phrase ‘the touch of earthly years’ ?
Answer:
By ‘earthly years’, Wordsworth means time as it is measured on this earth. It is measured in terms of months, years and seasons. Lucy is dead now, and so she will not feel ‘the touch of earthly years’. In other words, time will now have no effect on her.
Question 5:
‘Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course.’ Use your own words to explain this line.
Answer:
‘Diurnal’ means daily. The earth’s diurnal course is its daily movement round its axis. Lucy has now become completely one with nature. Like rocks, stones and trees she, too, goes on her daily course in the cosmic world.
Question 6:
What is the main (central) idea of Wordsworth’s poem, ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’ ?
Answer:
This poem expresses the poet’s deep sorrow at the death of his beloved named Lucy. He says that Lucy has lost all physical motion and force. But now time will have no effect on her. Like other things of nature, she has become a part of the cosmic world.