A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

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.