Poetry Analysis

Lights Out
By Edward Thomas
   

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 and 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.

To me this poem is a metaphor of the future. The metaphor of sleep is one that practically everyone can relate to. When you fall asleep, it just happens. You can't naturally control when you finally sleep; it just overcomes you. I think this poem in a way relates to people and how they plan their lives. A lot of people will prepare and plan out much of how they want their life to be. They have this set and that set, and they want it to happen that way but only during that moment. As life goes on, you develop and change new ideas constantly. I remember in middle school I was dead set on being a doctor as my career but, much like sleep, life overcame me, so I let it take its course. I think it's important to remember that today with college applications too. I can't control any of that, so I'm just going to let things happen and go from there.