Walt
Whitman’s poem “The Sleepers” is an account of the narrator’s ability to
liberate himself from his earthly body and sleepwalk through the dreams of
others. He sees the dreams of husbands and wives, children, and prisoners and
wonders, “How do they sleep?” All of these people, though very different in appearances
and actions, have one thing in common: they all sleep, and they all dream.
Dreams evoke a certain sense of equality, as well as an escape from reality. In
dreams we do not have to accept what we are, and we can choose what we wish to
be without judgment. Also, in dreams,
nothing can be hidden. As seen by the narrator, a person’s deepest emotions,
desires, and even fears come to light in their dreams. Dreams display what
reality often does not.
The ability of the narrator to
connect with people through their dreams displays his own empathy. To truly
connect with someone, you must feel what they feel. The narrator believes that
he can connect so deeply with another person that he can not only feel what
they feel, but he can dream what they dream. In connecting with “the sleepers”
through their dreams, the narrator is ultimately connecting them to each other.
This shows a deeper level of understanding between people of different
socioeconomic classes, ethnic backgrounds, and ages. In dreams, everyone’s voice
is heard and understood; however, this intimacy cannot be sustained, and
reality prevails over dreams once again.The narrator’s urge to become a part of the night instead of waking up and turning towards the light shows that he truly believes dreams are better than reality. He purposely falls asleep and immerses himself in the night to explore his own desires and fears, which he couldn’t possibly do if he were awake. The night, though dark and unknown, gives rise to dreams, which give rise to freedom. The freedom of dreams breaks the restraints of time, space, and human limitations. Dreams display the ideal place and life but are only achieved at the ideal moment, during sleep. Sleep maintains the balance between the mundane real world, and the idyllic world that exists only in a dream. Sleep takes away the misunderstandings of everyday life and replaces them with hope. In the eyes of the narrator, dreams are the ultimate form of liberation.
This reminds me so much of the Spongebob Squarepants episode where he goes into all of his friends dreams! I like how you say that Whitman finds the thing we all have in common is that we all dream. The dream state transcends all boundaries that are drawn in the real world. When the narrator finds himself in a place where boundaries cease to exist, he finds a connection, and therefore peace. No wonder he doesn't want to wake up!
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that dreaming is the unifying element, while also acting as a depiction of differentiation. All of these vastly different people dream, yet they are dreaming of different things. It seems that Whitman is saying that dreaming may be better than reality because people are many times defeated by the elements of socioeconomic classes, ethnic backgrounds, and ages; however, in the dream state, people are able to overcome the trials that these characteristics present.I agree with the idea the sleep removes the troubles of reality and replaces them with hope. Sleep is known to be revitalizing, so it would make sense for them to be the ultimate form of liberation.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts :)
I really like this poem and I think your interpretation is spot on. Dreams are such an interesting topic and Whitman approaches them in a unique way. Dreams offer insight into a person's innermost thoughts and being able to see what someone dreams would tell a lot about that person. They also are an equalizer in that everyone sleeps, but at the same time everyone has dreams that are totally unique to them.
ReplyDeleteLove your analysis on this! It's very interesting to think that absolutely everyone has something in common, and it's sleep. Something that we, especially us college students, take for granted. But the lack of restraints and use of imagination allows one to escape from the craziness of everyday, giving him the break that is needed to get through life. Dreams can create a perfect world, full of hope and lacking worries.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy this poem, and the meaning behind. Personally, I can only connect with so many people with my personality and likes, but if I were to dream, I can connect with everyone because we all want something that we can't have. In dreams, we can have these things. Many of us will still want different things, but we all want to get over this world of class, racism, and etc. I love the concept, and it blows my mind for somebody to put this amazing poem together. It is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI liked your analysis of this work. It raised some interesting questions for me. You said that we can deny what we truly are in dreams and become what we want to be. However, you later stated that dreams show our fears for reality and even realize truths about our situations. I think that we become what we truly are in dreams. Reality limits us in many ways. We really do not decide what we get to be in dreams because they are a product of our subconscious. Dreams reveal us rather than allow us to change. I believe that our dreams can tell us a lot about our present circumstances and reality rather than simply being fantasy.
ReplyDeleteI loved your thoughts on this poem and it makes me want to go read it. It gives a new meaning to dreams and makes you think about dreams in a whole new way. We don't usually see dreams as connecting to others but I agree. Dreams can take us away from reality even just for a little while.
ReplyDeleteI agree that dreams are an awesome place that allows us to escape reality. While the narrator's ability to enter other's dreams does show his empathy, I can't get past the fact that it's intrusive. A person's thoughts and dreams are sometimes the only safe spot they have to lock away what they are feeling. By sleepwalking through another person's dream, the narrator takes that safe place away from the sleepers. I haven't read the poem so I may be touching on a point that isn't even brought up, but that was my first thought after reading the first paragraph of your analysis. I do like the fact that we can all connect through our dreams no matter our backgrounds or classes because it's something we have in common. I do worry about the narrator's longing to remain asleep and in dreams. It seems that if he were really intrigued by these dreams, he would look to make his reality a better place. We're always told to try and make our dreams a reality. While reality does often limit us, I think the narrator's focus on dreaming could also negatively affect his life, only making his reality (and therefore, the life that he is actually living) worse.
ReplyDeleteHannah Aycock
I am glad that you begin your analysis with a brief overview of what is happening in your selection. That really helps the reader (or at least myself, personally) to have a firm grasp on what you are mentioning and helps them to follow along more easily. You are very thorough in your analysis but I would add more evidence directly from the source to support the arguments that you are making. You did well with connecting the reader to what you are saying by putting the elements of the selection into a universal view; such as when you wrote “In dreams, everyone’s voice is heard and understood.” This helps the reader to understand the significance of your statements and the selection itself.
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling this scenario seemed familiar, then I saw Kennedy's comment and realized SPONGEBOB. Except Spongebob only goes around messing people's dreams up... Anyway, I was wondering when this poem was written in comparison to Freud's dream analysis. Turns out, the poem was written first. Leaves of Grass, in which "The Sleepers" first appeared, was published in 1855, while Freud's Traumdeutung or The Interpretation of Dreams was published in 1899. I had no idea that people were thinking about exploring the subconscious, as the narrator essentially did, even before Freud. At any rate, when I get around to reading this poem, I'm definitely going to look back at this analysis to make sense of it like you did!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really intriguing topic, because dreams are so powerful and uncontrollable. They can make you wake up feeling weird, cause you to drive yourself crazy trying to remember them, and sometimes even take precious time out of dour say as you try to understand what it means. I still remember nightmares I had in Kindergarten. People have always puzzled over dreams, and what strikes me the most about Sleepers is that the writer claims he can connect to people through them. Can he really, when the dreamers themselves sometimes can't even understand or never would have consciously thought up the things they dream about?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your analysis and interpretation of this poem. When I read the first couple of lines, I was reminded of a book I read in elementary school named Stranger with my Face by Lois Duncan. The book was about twins who could perform "astral projection" (no I do not have that good of memory I had to google it, but I remembered reading the book, and the plot of the book). In the book, the dreams and the darkness were used for evil, but I like how Whitman strays from the norm and uses the nighttime and darkness as a connecting factor, rather than evil.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the first few lines of your analysis, it reminded me of the movie Inception. Dreams are so intriguing, and it was so cool to see the concept dreams be broken down on film: the way that we think we physically feel things, the way things defy the laws of physics, and the impossible scenarios we find ourselves in.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me wonder if people who have completely different interests and hobbies traveled into the other person's dream, would find that they actually have a lot more in common than they originally thought.
I don't blame Whitman for saying that dreams are better than reality--aren't they?? I think Whitman has tapped into a powerful thing here. It takes a huge level of self-realization to know one's own dreams. How much more would it take to know someone else's?
ReplyDeleteFrom finals to recent caffeine poisoning, I feel as if I've forgotten what sleep feels like.
ReplyDeleteI miss it. So very much.
I loved your analysis, by the way.
And I also love that Whitman chose to delve off into the most wondrous world of perspective.
As the famous philosophical argument goes, we will never know what it is to be a bat.
Even if we were able to go inside the mind of a bat, it wouldn't be pure. The experience would be tainted because it would be a human inside a bat. Our thoughts inside the mind os the bat. Unnatural. Unreal. I love the thought. It is truly mindboggling.
Dreams are interesting things. I find, oftentimes, that they display the mind's innermost wants and portray things that don't pan out in reality. In that sense, dreams are very personal and sacred to the person sleeping. This poem reminded me of the Harry Potter movies and the scene in which Harry looks into Dumbledore's memories.
ReplyDelete- Emily Alves