Sleeping with the Dictionary

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2002

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“Sleeping with the Dictionary” is a prose poem with 10 sentences all in one stanza. In the book of the same title, the text is justified and nearly fills a whole page. While there are no line nor stanza breaks, there is a meaningful change in the sentence length. The fourth sentence is much longer and more complex than the others. As Mullen is fascinated with transience, this sentence visually comes before the middle of the poem (the fifth sentence) and deals with transitioning between being awake and being asleep. Even without traditional forms of poetry, Mullen mirrors form and content.

As a prose poem written in a single stanza, there are no lines to scan. However, Mullen does mention how some poets learn to create metered lines by using the dictionary. The “accented syllables” she mentions in the long fourth line refer to how the dictionary marks stressed and unstressed syllables that combine to form metrical structures. Rather than including metered lines, Mullen takes a meta-look at crafting meter.

Alliteration

Mullen’s poem is filled with alliteration: words that begin with the same letter, group of letters, or sound. Mullen’s smart choice in using alliteration echoes the alphabetization of any dictionary. The words in the poem’s title include initial letters that are repeated in the poem: “s’ and “d.” There are a number of words that begin with “s,” from “silver-tongued” in the first sentence to “secret” in the last sentence. The words in the poem that begin with “d” are also numerous, beginning with “dicker” in the first sentence, to “decoded” in the last sentence.

Mullen also includes many words that begin with “b.” The word “bed” itself is repeated, and it is included in compound words, such as “bedside” and “bedroom.” Additionally, words like “beg” and “big” aid in the creation of double entendre and further the alliteration in the poem. The fact that there are words that begin with different initial letters keeps this from being a tautogram: a form loved by Oulipo writers where all the words in a poem begin with the same initial letter. Using alliteration allows the poem to remind the reader of the dictionary.

Pathetic Fallacy

Talking about an inanimate or natural object with human emotions and actions is called the pathetic fallacy, named by John Ruskin (who despised the technique). In the second sentence of “Sleeping with the Dictionary,” the dictionary is introduced as “not averse to the solitary habits of the [...] reader.” As an object, the dictionary cannot be averse to anything, but the poem implies that the book is a being with preferences and desires. One frequent critique of the pathetic fallacy is that it is deceptive as it projects emotions and actions from the speaker or poet onto innocent objects.

In “Sleeping with the Dictionary,” this deceit is intentionally weak, with the motions and actions between the speaker and the dictionary paralleling intimate acts. Mullen’s pathetic fallacy is not intended to disguise her emotions, but to deliberately demonstrate the transference of erotic feelings towards inanimate objects such as poems, notes, and, of course, dictionaries.

Puns

Puns and double entendre flood this poem. Without multiple meanings of words, the poem would not function thematically. One example is the word “penetration.” This word is frequently used in descriptions of sex, but Mullen gives it a dual meaning, using it to also refer to entering a large book. Another example is “companion.” This usually refers to a human, or even other animals. Mullen uses it to refer to the dictionary, giving it a bodily presence. Almost all the words in the poem are specifically chosen for their ability to function on both a readerly and sexual level.

This literary device also contains an element of irony: Dictionaries often lack the connotations and connotative definitions of a word required to parse the poem’s many puns. Dictionaries also tend to lack the more risqué definitions, even for relatively old and well-established terms. For example, “vers” or “versatile” means able to take the dominant or submissive role in intercourse, but the American Heritage Dictionary supplies neither of these definitions.