Oft Do I Dream
In the poem “Oft Do I Dream” the narrator is talking about a frequent dream he has, in which an unknown woman is comforting his hidden pain (very likely an imagined amalgamation of a number of beloved people the narrator has lost and is grieving for).
In the first stanza the narrator confesses that he has frequent and very persistent dreams about a woman. Even though he doesn’t know her identity (and she appears to be slightly different each time), in the dream he has the deep feeling that they love each other and that she knows him very well.
In the second stanza the narrator emphasizes that the strange woman is the only one who really knows him, who knows everything about his feelings and inner thoughts, especially about a grief that he keeps hidden but that she seems to be able to ease.
In the third stanza the narrator confesses that he doesn’t know anything about the woman, neither her looks nor her name. The only thing he knows is that her name is as easy to say as the names of his lost loved ones. This implies that the woman is not an actual person but a subconscious invention (likely a combination of several real people) of the narrator’s mind to deal with the loss of several people.
In the last stanza this becomes very obvious. The narrator compares her eyes to those of specific statues (likely around the graves) and that the sound of her voice is like that of beloved but dead voices.
“It Shall Be, Then, Upon A Summer’s Day”
In the poem “It Shall Be, Then, Upon A Summer’s Day” the narrator is agreeing with his beloved to have a summer wedding and describes how beautiful the day will be.
In the first stanza the narrator is making the final decision to have the wedding on a summer’s day. He tells his fiancé that the sun will make her, clad in fine textiles, look even more beautiful than she already is.
In the second stanza the narrator describes how the scenery will look and hints at both of their urgent “expectancy” (l. 8), which implies that they are very much in love and have high expectations of their marital happiness.
In the last stanza the narrator describes how the end of their wedding day will have a beautiful starry sky looking down on them happily, wishing them a wonderful life.
“Sleep, Darksome, Deep”
In the poem “Sleep, Darksome, Deep” the narrator is just about to fall asleep, craving the silence and peace of mind.
In the first stanza he is calling sleep to make every thought and craving disappear.
In the second stanza he seems to be very close to falling asleep, describing the exact moment that his eyes shut down and his mind begins to fade.
In the last stanza the narrator is stressing again how much he needs and craves the silence of sleep, comparing the state of sleep to being dead.
