Poem Lights Out (Edward Thomas) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation

Poem Lights Out (Edward Thomas) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation

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Poem:

I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way, however straight
Or winding, soon or late;
They cannot choose.

Many a road track
That, since the dawn's first crack,
Up to the forest brink,
Deceived the travellers.
Suddenly now blurs,
And in they sink.

Here love ends,
Despair, ambition ends;
All pleasure and all trouble,
Although most sweet or bitter,
Here ends in sleep that is sweeter
Than tasks most noble.

There is not any book
Or face of dearest look
That I would not turn from now
To go into the unknown
I must enter, and leave, alone.
I know not how.

The tall forest towers;
Its cloudy foliage lowers
Ahead, shelf above shelf;
Its silence I hear and obey
That I may lose my way
And myself. 

Edward Thomas:

Edward Thomas was born in 1878 and died in 1917. He was a poet and a critic. During most of his short career he was condemned to writing books to order, to make a living, but he always wrote with literacy taste about poets and with feeling about nature. He was killed in the First World War. He left poems whose lyrical  beauty and passion greatly enhanced his reputation.

Idea of Poem:

The poem dwells on the power of sleep. Our routine activities, our desires ambitions must all give way to the hold that sleep has over us. Things that are most dearly cherished, as a favourite book or a loved face are willingly relinquished as we find ourselves slipping gently into blessed world of sleep. It is an unconditional surrender to the deep, unconscious self, to the unknown. Sleep has an equalizing effect: all are subject to its spellbinding power: the rich and poor, the good and evil.

The quiet, silent rhythms create an almost lulling effect and capture beautifully that moment of just before that final drifting off into the unknown. There is, perhaps also the implicit idea of death: sleep and death are, after all, closely related.

"The unfathomable deep Forest, where all must lose. Their way......."

Introduction

It is a very sweet and simple poem about sleep which has a supernatural character in its nature. It is an alluring and interesting thing. When is comes, one finds oneself almost senseless by its beautiful quality that it makes one totally forgetful. The poem has also a deeper meaning. On this second scale, it becomes a poem about death. Death has also the same quality of making one totally forgetful of all one's surroundings.

Summary

Sleep is a very important gift of nature. The poet finds sleep as a very deep and dense forest in which everyone of us has to lose his way whether at once (when the way is straight) or after a little time (when the way is zigzagging). Nobody can say "No" to the coming sleep. All the human activity comes to a stand still at the arrival of this element of nature. All the ways of men sink down into the dark deep forest of sleep.

 

All human passions like despair, love and ambition are lost equally before the sweetness of sleep. When sleep comes, one must leave at once the book (i.e., study) or the dearest face (i.e., beloved). All pleasure and pain ends at the arrival of sleep which is sweeter than all other sweet works. One enters into its realm in a mysterious way.

Sleep cannot be checked or resisted in any way. When it comes, it must come and must be welcomed. The leaves of the dark and deep forest of sleep seem to hang down lower and lower still and, as a result, they hide the human beings in their heavy shadow. Sleep must come at the appointed time and one, however busy, must go to sleep at its arrival, all one's business even in the middle if it so happens.

We can also find a deeper meaning in the poem by taking sleep as a simile or symbol of death. After-all sleep is known as a sister of death. When death comes, it must come. It cannot be postponed or resisted. When it comes, one has to leave all one's activities and business and go at once with it. It is equalizer. It makes good and bad die and everyone has to leave his loved ones to die. So, we may read the deeper meaning in the poem also.

Important Questions

Questions No 1. Critically evaluate the poem "Light Out" by Edward Thomas. Or Write the Critical Appreciation of the poem.

Ans. This is a deep descriptive poem of intimate tone. The poet presents a clear, true picture of sleep in the poem. There is another implicit meanings of the poem, too. Sleep and death resemble very much, so the poem may also be about death. In this sense it may be compared with Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" where the poetess had given a graphic description of her journey with "death". Here the poet says that if (sleep or) death is coming, one must obey it and leave all one's occupation to go with that.

The subject-matter of the poem is valuable in both the ways. Sleep as well as death take away our consciousness and awareness from us and the poet presents this thought in a very lucid manner.  The theme has been presented in a straightforward manner. According to the poet the victim of sleep or death has to lose all his activities of life. He turns away  even from the most favorite book or beloved face and surrenders before it with full agreement. He feels that it is hovering over him but he remains unsuccessful if he shows any resistance. He must go to sleep/die when sleep/death comes. Everyone of us must lose his way into the forest of sleep/death which is very deep as well as dense.

The poet has treated the theme with full ingenuity and skill. Words used are evocative without deep emotion. Through the poem sleep (or death) are compared by way of a perfect simile with dark and deep forest. The simile is very accurate, exact and precise. It is correct both for sleep as well as for death. The implied meanings of the sleep as death are throughout lurking over all the lines so much so that by the end of the poem we recognize that the poem is as much about death as about sleep. We feel totally satisfied to read between the lines of the poem and appreciate the great art of the poet. Imagery of the leaves, darkness, foliage, trees etc. is very appropriate for the theme of sleep as well as death.

The poem is divided into five stanzas of 6 lines each having a rhyme of a a b c c b with the exception of line 14 in which the same word "ends" has been repeated instead of bringing another word rhyming with "ends" of line 13. But then perhaps it gives a stress to the meaning of the line. The rhythm of the poem does not seem to follow any particular pattern. There is a variation of 3 to 9 syllables in different lines without any balance or harmony between same numbered lines of different stanzas. But this silent and quiet rhythm creates an effect of almost a lullaby on the readers, so the form suits the subject-description. The poet takes us through itself just at the very bank of sleep/death.

Vocabulary of the poem has been mostly taken from green forest and it is simple and elaborate at one end and the same time. Most of the words are sentimental but deep. Majority of the words are monosyllabic. Some of the lines are totally composed of such words, as lines no. 12, 13, 21, 24 and 29. The word "unfathomable" is onomatopoeia as it gives a sound effect of great depth along with its meaning which is the same. The poem leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

Question No 2. What are the common, day-to-day pursuits of men and what is the impact of sleep on them? Discuss in the light of "Lights Out" by Edward Thomas.

Ans. The poem "Lights Out" by Edward Thomas is a sweet poem that is full of peace and quiet _ the peace and quiet of sleep. It is full of the details of the day-to-day, common pursuits of men. It also tells us about the impact of sleep on all these pursuits and interests of men.

"Man is a social animal" _ goes a famous saying and, therefore, he has to live in a society. A society is nothing but a collection of different men. There are good as well as bad men in a society. Hence there is a strange type of versatility in the society. There are sad as well as happy persons. "Their ways" says the poet "however straight, Or winding". It shows that the poet has full awareness of the two currents of good and evil in human society.

The "road and track" sometimes "Deceived the travellers". Love is an important pursuit here in the worldly society. Ambition is still another. Ambition and love rather constitute more than three fourths of the human life. Despair is another time-consuming factor in the life of man.

Study is, for some, a big pursuit. Such people cannot pass even a single day without study. On the other hand, some are busy not in the study of books but in the study of dear faces. So education and study constitute a single great pursuit and love another such one.

Now, according to the poet, sleep has a great, far-reaching impact on all these human pursuits. Sleep is the younger sister of death. It makes one unconscious and unaware of one's surroundings as well as pursuits. One may be a devil or a saint, a student or a lover, ambitions or pessimist, happy or sad, one has to go to sleep at the call. Sleep is like a thick forest into which all the straight or winding ways of men end. A man may be busy in any sort of pursuit but when the sleep calls, there is only one impact on him: it is that he is forced to go to sleep. No one can resist sleep.

Question No 3. What does the poet mean by coming "to the borders of sleep"?

Ans. The poet means by these words that he has become so tired that he cannot remain awake any more now. On the deeper level, we may say that he means that his cup of life has now become full and he is going to die. He is ready, in both cases, to enter into the realm.

Question No 4. Pick out all the words that suggest depth?

Ans. Here are the words that suggest death:

• unfathomable deep (line 2)
• in they sink (line 12)
• (go) into the unknown (line 22)
• tall forest towers (line 25)
• cloudy foliage lowers (line 26)
• shelf above shelf (line 27)
• silence (line 28)

Questions No 5. In what way is sleep an equalizing factor?

Ans. Sleep makes the rich and the poor unaware and unconscious of themselves. It makes the happiest and the saddest unaware and unconscious of himself. Every wish, desire, ambition, sentiment of all  the people finishes while they are asleep. So sleep is an equalizing factor. It makes all the persons equal.

Reference:

These lines have been taken from the poem “Lights Out” written by Edward Thomas.

Context:

In this poem the poet has compared “sleep” to an immeasurable forest. It is so deep that all paths leading to it come to an end there. All the lights are put out and man cannot find his way. He is lost there. Sleep is the greatest blessing. It overpowers every one. No one can i away from it. After the day?s long, hectic activities, everyone has to reach this forest. The implicit idea is perhaps of death.

Explanation:

Stanza: 1

I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way, however straight
Or winding, soon or late;
They cannot choose.

In these lines the poet has compared sleep to a deep and thick forest. He says he has reached the initial, stage of sleep. It is like an immeasurable deep and thick forest where all human-beings have to lose their way. No matter, if they lead a straight or a zigzag path. They hey, at last to come to the edge of sleep sooner or later because there is no alternative. Everybody, whoever, he is has to sleep. Sleep is a great blessing, without which man cannot pull on with in life. The suggestion in this stanza is „that man has to die sooner or later and has to reach the borders of death after completing the journey of life.

Stanza: 2

Many a road track
That, since the dawn's first crack,
Up to the forest brink,
Deceived the travellers.
Suddenly now blurs,
And in they sink.

This stanza gives an expression to the thought that all the roads that remain busy right from the appearance of day, till the arrival of night, people moving on such roads, have to reach the edge of deep forest (sleep or death). All the travellers (human-beings) suddenly blur because of the overpowering of sleep (or death) and soon they sink in (or die). They are fast asleep because of the day?s long work journey of life).

Stanza: 3

Here love ends,
Despair, ambition ends;
All pleasure and all trouble,
Although most sweet or bitter,
Here ends in sleep that is sweeter
Than tasks most noble.

In this stanza the poet says that when sleep overpowers a person he forgets everything. His love, disappointment and desire and ambition etc. all come to an end. Every kind of joy and all troubles no matter, how sweet the joy is, or how bitter the troubles are, come to an end.? In sleep, man forgets everything even if it is sweeter than the noblest thing/task.

Stanza: 4

There is not any book
Or face of dearest look
That I would not turn from now
To go into the unknown
I must enter, and leave, alone.
I know not how.

In the give lines the poet further explain the state of sleep. He says sleep dominates a person he forgets even -the most beautiful face, from which in normal conditions, he would not turn away his eye. He also forgets the most interesting book when sleep overpowers him. The poet further says that he enters sleep which is necessary and because of necessity he has to enter the field of sleep alone and has also to wake-up alone. The poet does- not know how this whole process takes place.

Stanza: 5

The tall forest towers;
Its cloudy foliage lowers
Ahead, shelf above shelf;
Its silence I hear and obey
That I may lose my way
And myself.

In this concluding stanza again the poet compares sleep to tall trees. He says when he is in the grip of sleep, he feels as if the tall trees were rising more and more, spreading their shade. In the same way the undergrowth or the greenery of the tall trees becomes hazy and cloudy. The shade of the tall trees presses him to go into deep sleep. Layer above layer of sleep comes upon him silently unless he is fully under the influence of sleep. He is forced to obey and hear what the sleep commands him. When he is fully dominated by sleep, he loses his way and becomes unaware of himself. Slumber is tantamount to death. He who is in sleep is unaware of himself and all the worldly things as he would be in death.