Sonnet 39 - Sir Philip Sidney

39

"Come, Sleep, O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,
The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,
Th' indifferent judge between the high and low;
   With shield of proof shield me from out the prease
Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw:
O make in me those civil wars to cease;
I will good tribute pay if thou do so.
    Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed,
A chamber deaf to noise and blind to light,
A rosy garland, and a weary head:
And if these things, as being thine by right,
    Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me
    Livelier than elsewhere Stella's image see."

                                                --Sir Philip Sidney

There's something about this sonnet by Sidney that's really appealing to me. It could be the theme of sleep as the place to escape from the realities of the world. It could be the fact that Sidney's speaker, Astrophil, so unconventionally expresses his sorrows for his courtly love, Stella, without the use of overdone paradoxes, outdated Petrarchan devices. There's just something there, something real in Sidney's desperate hope for peace, for a safe haven in sleep that simply won't let the reader be unless they feel that desperation and they feel that yearning for an unscathed slumber.

Then again, sleep's always fascinated me to begin with, especially the possibilities of what goes on when we're dead to the world for a good eight hours or so.

I'm Megan Butler, an English major at the University of Alabama who's aspiring to create the greatest story imaginable for your reading pleasure if you like a) young adult fiction b) well, sleep and dreams and the like and c) READING. We all have stories spinning around in our minds somewhere, it just takes a journey to reach those stories and revive them for others to see. With the ultimate destination involving publication, a daunting journey indeed, this blog is meant for you to experience that journey with me and to feel what I feel, to learn what I learn as I wake my story up from its protective sleep and shove it out of its comfort zone, into the real world.

Thanks for reading!