Lullaby
Lullaby - meaning Summary
Sleep as Mythic Refuge
Yeats's "Lullaby" addresses a beloved, wishing a deep, restorative sleep framed through classical and legendary images. The speaker evokes Paris with Helen, Tristram’s potion-induced rest, and Leda’s encounter with the swan to cast sleep as both erotic refuge and protection. Mythic episodes compress into a consoling ritual that links love, transformation, and safety, turning personal blessing into timeless, legendary assurance.
Read Complete AnalysesBeloved, may your sleep be sound That have found it where you fed. What were all the world's alarms To mighty paris when he found Sleep upon a golden bed That first dawn in Helen's arms? Sleep, beloved, such a sleep As did that wild Tristram know When, the potion's work being done, Roe could run or doe could leap Under oak and beechen bough, Roe could leap or doe could run; Such a sleep and sound as fell Upon Eurotas' grassy bank When the holy bird, that there Accomplished his predestined will, From the limbs of Leda sank But not from her protecting care.
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