The slumber's chain that binds is a metaphor for psychological bonds of emotional chains holding us back. A certain aspect of the poem is very familiar – the reflective feelings that come while one lies in bed before falling asleep. Nighttime has an almost mystical ability to both soothe and haunt; the speaker here is succumbing to the lonesomeness of the dark. The speaker has had a very happy life, full of friends and laughter and love; we can infer this from the images given in the first verse. And now he lies alone at night, with nothing but memories to keep him company. The slumber's chain that binds him is a metaphor for the psychological bonds of emotional chains holding him hostage. His life, which was once so much like a smartly-decorated banquet, is now fading like mine. And in this state the light of other memories, though painful when compared to the present, is soothing in
The slumber's chain that binds is a metaphor for psychological bonds of emotional chains holding us back. A certain aspect of the poem is very familiar – the reflective feelings that come while one lies in bed before falling asleep. Nighttime has an almost mystical ability to both soothe and haunt; the speaker here is succumbing to the lonesomeness of the dark. The speaker has had a very happy life, full of friends and laughter and love; we can infer this from the images given in the first verse. And now he lies alone at night, with nothing but memories to keep him company. The slumber's chain that binds him is a metaphor for the psychological bonds of emotional chains holding him hostage. His life, which was once so much like a smartly-decorated banquet, is now fading like mine. And in this state the light of other memories, though painful when compared to the present, is soothing in