Night Sweat: Analysis and Poetic Devices

Robert Lowell

1. Line-by-Line Analysis and Literary Devices

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Line-by-Line Analysis and Literary Devices

Work-table, litter, books and standing lamp, 
plain things, my stalled equipment, the old broom--- 
but I am living in a tidied room, 

litter – papers on the floor suggesting the speaker’s frustration at his inability to write.

standing lamp – lamp might be a metaphor for inspiration and standing insinuates a lack of progress.

plain things – everyday objects.

my stalled equipment – an appliance or tool that has stopped working. It might refer to his pen or pencil that is lying still on the table as he is unable to write. As he stresses “my”, it might even be a metaphor for his mind that has stopped functioning.

old broom – “old” might suggest the inability of the broom to clean the stagnation or the “litter” of the speaker’s mind.

In the first three lines, the poetic persona gives us a glimpse of his private space where he writes and which might also function as his bedroom. The image is that of a modest workspace. There is a table where he writes; “litter” might refer to the pages that have been torn out of frustration; books, a lamp for his table, “stalled equipment” (might refer to his pen), and “the old broom”. After describing an assortment of things in his workspace he uses the conjunction “but” to state that he lives in a “tidied room”. This might mean that the workspace is symbolic of his cluttered mind while as a corporeal being, he exists in a neat and organized place.

 for ten nights now I've felt the creeping damp 
float over my pajamas' wilted white . . . 

ten nights – suggest that the speaker might be suffering from insomnia associated with anxiety creeping damp – sweat has been personified

wilted white – consonance

The speaker has been suffering from insomnia associated with the anxiety of literary ambition (as revealed in line 8). His mind is cluttered and his creative flow has come to a standstill. He can feel beads of sweat soaking and staining his white pajamas.

Sweet salt embalms me and my head is wet, 
everything streams and tells me this is right; 

Sweet salt – consonance, oxymoron, refers to sweat.

embalms – anoint

The speaker is sweating profusely. He senses that not only his head has dampened but he too is suffused with sweat.

my life's fever is soaking in night sweat--- one life, one writing! 
But the downward glide and bias of existing wrings us dry--- 

life’s fever– a metaphor for the speaker’s poetic ambition

wring us dry – squeezed out his vigor

The reason for anxiety-driven insomnia and sweating as the speaker reveals eventually is his overwhelming poetic ambition. The speaker believes in the identity of life and poetry, and “if the writing grew out of the life, so the life was consumed by the writing, as a fire eats up its fuel” (Kirsch 248). The speaker elucidates how the burden of time and struggle for existence has progressively enervated him and left him “dry” or without inspiration.

always inside me is the child who died, 
always inside me is his will to die--- 

One has to brood a little over the above two lines as, though the child inside the speaker is dead yet his “will to die” prevails. Here, death is not literal but rather metaphorical standing for the speaker’s craving for maturity, wisdom, and knowledge.

One universe, one body . . . 
in this urn the animal night sweats of the spirit burn. 

Urn – a tall, rounded vase with a stem and base, especially one used for storing the ashes of a cremated person.

The body of the poet is one with the universe and it is symbolic of an urn that retains his spirit that burns with feverish literary ambition.

Behind me! You! Again I feel the light lighten my leaded eyelids,
while the gray skulled horses whinny for the soot of night. 

The second section begins with the exclamations “Behind me! You!” as the speaker is jolted out of his self-doubts by the sudden appearance of another person in the room. The volta is also marked by the night rolling into dawn. This marks a change in the speaker’s attitude as he salvages the vitality to open his fatigued eyes. The gloomy ruminations symbolized by the “gray skulled horses” seek shelter in the dark night.

I dabble in the dapple of the day,
a heap of wet clothes, seamy, shivering,
I see my flesh and bedding washed with light,

dabble – immerse oneself

dapple – the spot of light

seamy – unpleasant

The use of the word “dapple” seems to be a conscious parody of Hopkins. Hopkins often used the imagery of “dappled things” in spiritual terms evoking god’s relationship to his creation, the world. The speaker of Pied Beauty (“Glory be to God for dappled things”) or the speaker of The Windhover (dapple dawn drawn) praises God’s glory as Hopkins believed nature to be an expression of God’s grandeur; but Lowell’s use of the word does not suggest any interrelation with the Divine, rather idle feelings of relief as the warm sunlight spills on his bed and damp clothes.

my child exploding into dynamite, 
my wife . . . your lightness alters everything,
and tears the black web from the spider's sack, 
as your heart hops and flutters like a hare. 

heart hops and flutters like a hare - simile. 

The comforting presence of his wife and daughter relieves his burden of creativity and brightens his day. While referring to his child’s untamed energy he uses the metaphor of exploding dynamite. But the evanescence of the explosion as well as the dappled sunlight scarcely grants any guarantee of steady light or creative renewal. The forlorn figure of the night is energized by his wife whose very presence in the room is enough to clean his psychic space of the spider’s webs.

Poor turtle, tortoise, if I cannot clear
the surface of these troubled waters here,
absolve me, help me, Dear Heart, as you bear
this world's dead weight and cycle on your back.

In the very next line, he addresses her as “Poor turtle, tortoise” as he is ruefully aware of his wife’s suffering due to the neurotic episodes he manifests. Both turtle and tortoise are totem animals and potent symbols of endurance and protection; the turtle in Hindu mythology supports the earth on its back. The speaker addresses his wife as “Dear Heart” and surrenders to her entirely to draw him out of the bouts of melancholy.

Citations:

1. Kirsch, Adam. “One Life, One Writing.” Poetry, vol. 186, no. 3, 2005, pp. 248–54. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20607040. Accessed 25 Jan. 2023.
2. Axelrod, Steven Gould. “Robert Lowell and Hopkins.” Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 31, no. 1, 1985, pp. 55–72. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/441221. Accessed 29 Jan. 2023.

Resources:

1. Poetry Prof: https://poetryprof.com/night-sweat/
2. LitCharts: https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/robert-lowell/night-sweat
3. Poem Analysis: https://poemanalysis.com/robert-lowell/night-sweat/
4. English Summary: https://englishsummary.com/night-sweat-poem-by-robert-lowell-summary-notes-and-line-by-line-explanation-in-english-for-students/