Emily Dickinson

Sleep is supposed to be

Summary


"Sleep is supposed to be" is a short poem that questions what we think we know about sleep and morning. Emily Dickinson begins with the everyday idea of sleep as the shutting of the eye, then turns it into a grand station lined with silent witnesses. Dawn follows, but not the ordinary kind: the real morning lies east of eternity, arriving with banners and red array. The poem is compact, strange and quietly dazzling, and it leaves you looking at every sunrise differently.

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SLEEP is supposed to be,
By souls of sanity,
The shutting of the eye.

Sleep is the station grand
Down which on either hand
The hosts of witness stand!

Morn is supposed to be,
By people of degree,
The breaking of the day.

Morning has not occurred!
That shall aurora be
East of eternity;

One with the banner gay,
One in the red array,—
That is the break of day.

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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a 19th-century American poet, known for her compact, dash-filled verse about death, nature and eternity. Most of her poems were published only after her death, and this one sets her playful wit against her lifelong fascination with the afterlife.