Robert Lowell published "Night Sweat" in his 1964 collection For the Union Dead. The poem can be read as a vivid, nightmarish portrait of anxiety and self-doubt, as well as of the toll these emotions can take on a relationship. Its speaker, implied to be a writer, keeps waking up drenched in sweat—the product of his fear and anguish over being unable to write. He ultimately calls on his wife to relieve him of his burdens, as she has apparently done before. Lowell struggled with mental illness throughout his life, and his personal, emotional, and psychological experiences figured heavily into his writing. Lowell was also an important figure in the American confessional poetry movement. Like the Confessionalists Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, both of whom he taught, Lowell often included biographical details about himself and his relationships (including, notoriously, his ill-fated marriage to fellow writer Elizabeth Hardwick) in his work.

• Read the full text of “Night Sweat”

• “Night Sweat” Summary

• “Night Sweat” Themes

  • 

    Creative Anxiety and Self-Doubt

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-28
  • 

    The Power and Pain of Relationships

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 20-28

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Night Sweat”

  • Lines 1-3

    Work-table, litter, books ...
    ... a tidied room,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-9

    for ten nights ...
    ... life, one writing!

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    But the downward ...
    ... will to die—

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-17

    one universe, one ...
    ... soot of night.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-21

    I dabble in ...
    ... exploding into dynamite,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 22-24

    my wife . ...
    ... like a hare.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    Poor turtle, tortoise, ...
    ... on your back.

    

    

    

    

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• “Night Sweat” Symbols

  • 

    Drowning

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-6: “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,”
    • Lines 25-26: “if I cannot clear / the surface of these troubled waters here,”

• “Night Sweat” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “wilted white”
    • Line 6: “Sweet salt”
    • Line 8: “soaking,” “sweat”
    • Lines 15-16: “light / lighten”
    • Line 16: “leaded”
    • Line 18: “dabble,” “dapple,” “day”
    • Line 23: “spider's sack”
    • Line 24: “heart hops,” “hare”
    • Line 25: “turtle, tortoise,” “cannot clear”
    • Line 28: “world's,” “weight”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “Sweet salt”
    • Line 7: “streams”
    • Line 8: “life's,” “soaking,” “sweat”
    • Line 10: “bias,” “existing”
    • Line 14: “sweats,” “spirit”
    • Line 19: “seamy,” “shivering”
    • Line 20: “flesh,” “washed”
    • Line 23: “spider's sack”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “living in”
    • Line 6: “head,” “wet”
    • Line 9: “life,” “writing,” “glide”
    • Line 10: “bias,” “existing wrings,” “dry”
    • Line 11: “inside,” “child,” “died”
    • Line 12: “inside,” “is his will,” “die”
    • Line 15: “I,” “light”
    • Line 16: “lighten,” “leaded,” “eyelids,” “while”
    • Line 18: “dabble,” “dapple”
    • Line 20: “flesh,” “bedding”
    • Line 22: “my wife,” “lightness”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “my stalled equipment”
    • Line 6: “Sweet salt embalms me”
    • Line 8: “my life's fever is soaking in night sweat—”
    • Lines 9-10: “But the downward glide / and bias of existing wrings us dry—”
    • Lines 13-14: “in this urn / the animal night sweats of the spirit burn.”
    • Lines 15-17: “Again I feel the light / lighten my leaded eyelids, while the gray / skulled horses whinny for the soot of night.”
    • Line 19: “a heap of wet clothes, seamy, shivering,”
    • Line 21: “my child exploding into dynamite,”
    • Line 23: “and tears the black web from the spider's sack,”
    • 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.”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “plain things, my stalled equipment, the old broom”
    • Lines 6-7: “my head is wet, / everything streams”
    • Line 9: “one life, one writing!”
    • Lines 11-13: “always inside me is the child who died, / always inside me is his will to die— / one universe, one body”
    • Line 19: “a heap of wet clothes, seamy, shivering,”
    • Line 20: “I see my flesh and bedding washed with light,”
    • Lines 21-22: “my child exploding into dynamite, / my wife”
    • Line 25: “turtle, tortoise,”
    • Line 27: “absolve me, help me,”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 24-28: “as your heart hops and flutters like a hare. / 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.”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 11: “always inside me is”
    • Line 12: “always inside me is”
    • Line 15: “I”
    • Line 18: “I”
    • Line 20: “I”
    • Line 21: “my”
    • Line 22: “my”

  • Parallelism

    

    

    

    

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    Where parallelism appears in the poem:

    • Line 9: “one life, one writing!”
    • Lines 11-13: “always inside me is the child who died, / always inside me is his will to die— / one universe, one body”
    • Line 15: “I feel”
    • Line 18: “I dabble”
    • Line 20: “I see”
    • Line 21: “my child”
    • Line 22: “my wife”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “damp / float”
    • Lines 9-10: “glide / and”
    • Lines 13-14: “urn / the”
    • Lines 15-16: “light / lighten”
    • Lines 16-17: “gray / skulled”
    • Lines 25-26: “clear / the”
    • Lines 27-28: “bear / this”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-8: “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—”
    • Lines 15-20: “Again I feel the light / lighten my leaded eyelids, while the gray / skulled horses whinny for the soot of night. / I dabble in the dapple of the day, / a heap of wet clothes, seamy, shivering, / I see my flesh and bedding washed with light,”
    • Line 23: “and tears the black web from the spider's sack,”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 24: “your heart hops and flutters like a hare.”

• “Night Sweat” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Embalms
  • Bias
  • Urn
  • Leaded
  • Dapple
  • Seamy
  • The spider's sack
  • Absolve
  • (Location in poem: Line 6: “Sweet salt embalms me”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Night Sweat”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Night Sweat” Speaker

• “Night Sweat” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Night Sweat”

• More “Night Sweat” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Kingdom of the Mad — Check out an overview/review of Lowell's "Collected Poems" that addresses the way the poet's mental illness was reflected in his writing.

    • For the Union Dead — An overview/review of Lowell's "Collected Poems" that explores the poet's creative process.

    • Robert Lowell's Biography — Learn more about Lowell via the Poetry Foundation.

    • Lowell and Hardwick — Learn more about Lowell's turbulent relationship with Elizabeth Hardwick, the "wife" referred to in this poem.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Lowell

    • For the Union Dead

    • Skunk Hour

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