Night Sweat (CIE IGCSE English Literature)

This guide to Robert Lowell’s poem 'Night Sweat' from the Songs of Ourselves, Volume 1, Part 4 anthology includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of 'Night Sweat', including its possible meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poetic methods Robert Lowell has used

• Understanding the text: an exploration of Lowell’s ideas, themes and possible messages in 'Night Sweat'

In order to answer an essay question on a poem, it is important that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell
• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section
• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Lowell’s intention and message

'Night Sweat' in a nutshell

'Night Sweat' by Robert Lowell was published in 1964 and can be considered a confessional poem. The poem can be read as a vivid description of the poet’s anxiety and self-doubt, which is blocking his creativity. 

'Night Sweat' breakdown

Lines 1–3

“Work-table, litter, books and standing lamp,

plain things, my stalled equipment, the old broom-

but I am living in a tidied room,”

Translation

• The speaker is describing his personal space and the objects he is surrounded by

Lowell’s intention

• As this is a confessional poem, we can conclude that the speaker is the poet himself
• He is listing the objects around him, but the frequent use of caesura suggests that his thoughts are fragmented and hurried:
• This immediately creates an overwhelming and hectic atmosphere
• The use of the word “stalled” to describe the equipment suggests that the poet is in turmoil and has a creative block:
• The word “equipment” could be a metaphor for the poet’s mind, or it could represent physical equipment that he uses to write, such as a pen
• The tidied room serves as a symbol of order and control, which juxtaposes the poet’s inner turmoil
• The first three lines suggest that the poet is suffering from writer’s block

Lines 4–9

“For ten nights now I’ve felt the creeping damp

float over my pajamas’ wilted white…

Sweet salt embalms me and my head is wet,

everything streams and tells me this is right;

my life’s fever is soaking in night sweat- 

one life, one writing! But the downward glide”

Translation

• The poet talks about what he experiences during the night

Lowell’s intention

• The poet uses vivid sensory imagery, which evokes a sense of discomfort and unease as he is physically affected by the “creeping damp”:
• The use of the word “creeping” suggests a gradual and almost insidious intrusion, adding to the sense of discomfort and vulnerability
• The poet uses the verbs, "wilted" and "embalms" to evoke an image of death. The speaker is trying to highlight how he feels like someone who has died and is now being preserved by his "life's fever"
• The use of the phrase “life’s fever” could be a metaphor for the poet’s ambition and could highlight the poet’s internal anxieties in relation to their writing
• The final line suggests that the poet’s life is his writing and that it has become an important part of his identity

Lines 10–12

“and bias of existing wrings us dry-

always inside me is the child who died,

always inside me is his will to die-”

Translation

• The poet ponders on how his creativity exhausts him and leaves him without inspiration

Lowell’s intention

• The first line highlights the pressure the poet feels as the weight of life’s struggles and challenges drains him of vitality and resilience:
• The use of the word “existing” implies a passive state of being, highlighting a sense of helplessness
• The second line suggests the presence of unresolved trauma or grief within the speaker’s psyche:
• This trauma or past experience haunts the speaker and contributes to their emotional distress
• The “child” could also be a metaphor for his creative work and its “will to die” could suggest his internal conflict
• The final line suggests that there is a persistent sense of despair and loss of hope within the speaker’s mind:
• The phrase “will to die” implies a deep desire for self-destruction or escape from the pain of his “existence”
• The poet has used a technique called anaphora when he repeats the phrase “always inside me” at the beginning of two lines:
• The repetition of this phrase could suggest that he is haunted by this metaphoric child

Lines 13–17

“one universe, one body…in this urn

the animal night sweats of the spirit burn.

Behind me! You! Again I feel the light

lighten my leaded eyelids, while the gray

skulled horses whinny for the soot of night.”

Translation

• The poet describes his reactions to the sun rising

Lowell’s intention

• The poet uses the “urn” as a metaphor that contains “the animal night sweats of the spirit”:
• This suggests the containment of primal impulses within the vessel of the human body
• The use of the word “animal” implies that his ambition is deep-rooted, primal and powerful
• The poet then uses the ambiguous phrase “Behind me! You!” but it is unclear whom he is addressing:
• The use of the short sentences suggests that the poet is beginning to wake from a feverish nightmare as the sun begins to rise
• The “leaden eyelids” highlight the physical impact that the “night sweats” have had on the poet, as he is exhausted
• The use of the metaphor "gray skulled horses" is striking as it suggests that the speaker is being pulled back into the "soot of the night":
• This could suggest that the speaker is struggling to pull himself out of the darkness of the inner turmoil and anxieties he experiences at night

Lines 18–21

“I dabble in the dapple of the day,

a heap of wet clothes, seamy, shivering,

I see my flesh and bedding washed with light,

my child exploding into dynamite,”

Translation

• The poet describes his struggle to get through the day

Lowell’s intention

• The phrase “dabble in the dapple of the day” suggests that the poet is attempting to be creative:
• However, the verb “dabble” suggests that the poet is doing it in a superficial and casual way
• The poet describes himself as a “heap of wet clothes, seamy, shivering”:
• The vivid imagery conveys the physical discomfort and vulnerability of the speaker after the night sweats, suggesting that the effects of it are still lingering
• The metaphor of the “child exploding into dynamite” shows a sudden change of energy:
• This metaphor suggests an intense burst of energy or creativity within the speaker that is “exploding” from the intense “light”

Lines 22–24

“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.”

Translation

• The poet describes how he feels when he is in the presence of his wife

Lowell’s intention

• The poet beings by addressing their wife directly, which suggests that the wife’s presence has a profound and transformative effect on him
• The use of the word “lightness” emphasises the relief and sense of calm the poet feels when she is there:
• The use of caesura could reflect the relief and calm he feels when she enters  
• The “lightness” of his wife could counteract the “black” darkness that the spider represents:
• This imagery conveys a sense of liberation or release from the speaker’s inner turmoil or emotional entanglements in the presence of his wife

Lines 25–28

“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.”

Translation

• The poet is addressing his wife

Lowell’s intention

• There is a shift in tone as the poet expresses his guilt over his wife having to support him emotionally and this is evident when he addresses her as “poor turtle”:
• The image of the turtle could be a reference to a common myth in many cultures claiming that a turtle is holding up the world on its hard shell
• The image of the mythological turtle is reinforced later on in the stanza when he references the “world’s dead weight” that is “on your back”:
• This could symbolise the burdens and responsibilities that his partner has to carry in life
• He asks for her forgiveness when he pleads for her to “absolve” him:
• This suggests a sense of humility and vulnerability as the speaker acknowledges their own limitations and seeks support from their partner
• The use of “Dear Heart” conveys a sense of intimacy and affection, which highlights the deep emotional bond between the speaker and their loved ones

Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Lowell’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

The poem is written in a loose iambic pentameter, especially in the first 14 lines of the poem.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Anxiety and insecurity	The poem is written loosely in iambic pentameter. The poet uses unstressed/stressed syllable patterns and line 3 is a good example of the iambic pentameter being used	The iambic pentameter resembles the beating of a heart and the poet may have done this to add intimacy and personal connection to the poem
	However, the poet has used this metre very loosely. Some lines do not follow the unstressed/stressed pattern but might follow a pattern of two stressed syllables in a row. Line 1 is a good example of this	By using iambic pentameter loosely and changing the metre pattern, Lowell could be highlighting his panic and inner turmoil

Structure

The poem is formed of two sonnets joined together: the first sonnet starts at line 1 and ends on line 14, while the second sonnet comprises lines 15–28.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Anxiety and insecurity	The first 14 lines form a Shakespearean sonnet and the final 14 lines form a Petrarchan sonnet	The use of the Shakespearen sonnet could suggest the poet’s desire to write a classic poem using a traditional poetic form. This could reflect the insecurities and anxieties in regards to his writing and so choosing a popular poetic form, such as the Shakespearen sonnet, could help to alleviate some of those anxieties
Relationships and love	The second half of the poem, lines 15–28, is made up of a Petrarchan sonnet	Petrarchan poems are usually associated with the theme of love. It is therefore appropriate for the poet to use this form in the second half of the poem as the poet talks about his love for his wife here

Language

The poet uses vivid language to reflect his inner feelings and insecurities. 

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Anxiety and insecurity	The poet has used a metaphor of an inner child repeatedly in the poem	The inner child could represent the writer’s insecurities and vulnerability. However, another interpretation could be that the inner child represents the poet’s creativity and writing. The inner child “dies” or explodes at crucial points, reflecting his creative struggle
	Vivid sensory description is used, such as the feeling of being soaked in sweat	The sensory description could highlight how his passion and fear is overwhelming him. The repeated mention of sweat creates the impression that the poet is submerged and drowning in his obsession, so much so that he is being “embalmed”
Relationships and love	The language changes and becomes more positive at the end of the poem when the poet’s wife appears. An example of this is the simile “heart hops and flutters like a hare”	The poet’s language changes when he refers to his wife to reflect the calm and balance she brings to his life. The use of the word “lightness” suggests that she alleviates the stresses and anxieties that he feels when he is lost in his work
	The poet also uses the metaphor of a “turtle” when referring to his wife that could be linked to the belief from some cultures of a mythological turtle carrying the world on its shell	The metaphor of a turtle highlights how he believes that his wife carries the pressure as a result of his anxieties and mental state. He clearly values her and wishes for her forgiveness

It is not enough to just know the poem really well as all questions in the IGCSE encourage an informed, personal response. Therefore, you need to develop a solid understanding of the theme, main ideas, settings, situations and events depicted. Even though context is not explicitly assessed in the IGCSE, it is important that you have an awareness of background information that is relevant to the main themes in the poem as this can help you develop a sustained, critical understanding of the text. This is so that you are able to demonstrate individuality and insight in your answer. To help you do this, the section below has been divided into two main themes that Lowell explores in 'Night Sweat':

• Anxiety and insecurity
• Relationships and love

Anxiety and insecurity

• Robert Lowell was an American poet who published 'Night Sweat' in 1964:
• He was a significant figure in the confessional poetry genre
• Lowell lived with bipolar disorder and suffered from mental illness throughout his life
• A confessional poem reveals the innermost thoughts and feelings of the writer, creating the impression that the reader is allowed into the mind of the speaker
• In 'Night Sweat', the poet is confessing his obsession and anxiety over his own writing
• It could be argued that this poem gives an insight into the physical and mental stress that writing puts a person under
• The poem begins with Lowell describing the room he is in and that he is surrounded by “litter” and “stalled equipment”:
• The first three lines contain caesura and the frequent pauses could reflect his fragmented and broken state of mind
• He is all too aware of his surroundings and it is important to note that the writer doesn’t move in the first three lines of the poem, which could suggest a mental and physical block as a result of his anxiety:
• The writer is unable to do anything with his writing equipment and this is reinforced by the words “stalled” and “litter” 
• At night, however, he is overcome by the “Night Sweat”, and Lowell uses words such as “fever”, “creeping” and “float”, which could suggest that he is suffering from an anxiety attack
• His writing now flows quicker than the first three lines with the use of enjambment: “...I’ve felt the creeping damp float over my pajamas…” which could reflect his panic
• He describes life as a “downward glide” that “wrings us dry”, which could suggest he feels as if he is failing and that he is becoming more and more exhausted

Relationships and love

• The poem changes when the poet’s wife is mentioned:
• The caesura that is created by an ellipsis slows down the pace of the poem and could reflect the calm he feels when she enters
• It could be interpreted that his wife represents balance and alleviates his anxieties as she brings a “lightness” with her:
• This contrasts the earlier image of his existence being on a “downward glide”
• The final part of the poem is the poet showing his appreciation for his wife, who he claims bears “this world’s dead weight and cycle on your back”:
• The end of the poem shows a switch in perspective as the poet is not focusing on himself now but the impact his wife has on him
• The volta, which is a poetic technique that indicates an emotional shift, highlights how important his wife is to him and how he needs her support:
• It is evident, however, that he does regret how much she has to “bear”