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Robert Lowell published "Night Sweat" in his 1964 collection For the Union Dead. The poem can be read as a vivid, nightmarish portrait of anxiety and self-doubt, as well as of the toll these emotions can take on a relationship.
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‘Night Sweat’ by Robert Lowell is an emotionally complex poem. It’s not clear why the speaker is suffering from night sweats. The metaphorical meaning of “my stalled equipment” makes it clear that the speaker is going through writer’s block. The downward glide of his ability and his previous bias are blocking him to pen down that “one writing”. How...
‘Night Sweat’ by Robert Lowell contains two sonnets. The first one is in Shakespearean sonnet form and the following one is written in the Petrarchan sonnet form. Moreover, the rhyme scheme of the first fourteen-line is “ABBA CDCD EFEF GG”. In the following sonnet, the poet uses the “ABABCDDC EFGFGE” rhyme scheme. There are a total of 10 syllables ...
‘Night Sweat’ by Robert Lowell contains several literary devices. Likewise, there is an anticlimax in the second line of the poem. Here, the “stalled equipment” is a metaphor for the poet’s pen or poetic imagination. There is a personal metaphor in the “tidied room”. Moreover, there is a personification in “creeping damp”. Apart from that, the poet...
Lines 1–5
‘Night Sweat’ by Robert Lowell begins with a description of the items that the poetic personafinds in his room while he struggles to write poetry. He can see some plain things such as the work-table, litter, books, and a standing lamp. His “stalled equipment” or the pen on the table lies as if it has become useless like the “old broom” kept at one side. Here, the poet assures readers that he lives in a “tidied room” and those items are in their place, not scattered. Thereafter, the poet refer...
Lines 6–10
In this section of ‘Night Sweat’ by Robert Lowell, the speaker using an oxymoronsays that he feels like his skin is covered with salt. His head is wet. Several thoughts appear in his mind. But, he isn’t sure about which he should write. Thereafter the poet says his “life’s fever is soaking in night sweat”. It seems as if the poet’s imagination is soaked with his bodily sweats. Moreover, the poet longs to write that one piece that every artist wishes to create in life. But, the downward glide...
Lines 11–17
‘Night Sweat’ by Robert Lowell presents the poet’s mental condition again in this section. The child-like spirit in his mind has passed away. What is left, is also on the verge of extinction. Apart from that, to emphasize the idea present here, the poet uses anaphora. Moreover, the poet says that a person has only a life to do what he wishes to do and there is no other “universe” or world to fulfill his dreams. The poet says his spirit is burning with desires and it also burns his “animal nig...
‘Night Sweat’ by Robert Lowell was published 13 years before his death. The poet had been suffering from bipolar disorder or “manic depression” throughout his adult life. In this disorder, a person goes through periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated moodthat last from days to weeks each. In this poem, the poet expresses how this d...
Like ‘Night Sweat’ by Robert Lowell, the following poems can be read for further reference. 1. The Man with Night Sweatsby Thom Gunn– This poem is about a man suffering from AIDS in solitude. 2. Wishby Carol Ann Duffy– In this one of her best poems, Duffy talks about her depression. 3. Acquainted with the Nightby Robert Frost– In this one of his be...
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Analysis (ai): This poem explores themes of mortality and illness. The speaker, lying in bed sweating from a fever, reflects on the passage of time, the inevitability of death, and the weight of living. The poem's imagery is sparse and clinical, with the speaker describing their surroundings in a matter-of-fact way.
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“Night Sweat” was included in Robert Lowell’s 1964 series For the Union Dead. The poem might be seen as a vivid, nightmarish portrayal of fear and self-doubt, as well as the toll these ...
Oct 3, 2023 · Andrew Spacey. Updated: Oct 3, 2023 5:15 PM EDT. Robert Lowell. Pinterest. Robert Lowell and a Summary of 'Night Sweat'. 'Night Sweat' focuses on what it is to be a human experiencing doubt, anguish and fear. This is a kind of nightmare scenario turned inside out and upside down.
Max Liu, writing in 2017 (to mark what would have been Lowell’s 100th birthday). Night Sweat was first published in Robert Lowell’s 1964 collection For the Union Dead; by this time Lowell was already famous as a confessional poet, something new in American literature.
May 10, 2024 · The poem's speaker keeps waking up drenched in sweat, a condition implied to be the result of deep anxiety tied to his writer's block. On one level, the poem simply illustrates the terrifying, overwhelming anxiety that bubbles up at night, when people's unconscious minds take over.
