Poetic form and language in 'The Pains of Sleep' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

'The Pains of Sleep' is written in the first person present tense from the point of view of an un-named narrator; which may (or may not) be the author. However, the nightmares and sleep disruption described in the poem are symptomatic of withdrawal from opiate addiction, an affliction from which Coleridge was known to suffer, and it is prudent to assume that it is the poet who speaks in this poem. The use of a …

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