Which is an element of the form in another lullaby for insomniacs

Erika Pinter
Dr. Kimberly Lockwood
ENG/240
August 26, 2019
“Another Lullaby for Insomniacs” by A.E. Stallings
“Another Lullaby for Insomniacs” by A.E. Stallings is a simple but interesting piece of art to read. The title lures one to want to read more on how a lullaby may soothe insomnia to sleep. Oxymoron is also brought out in the title in the sense that insomnia is a sleep disorder. Thus, a lullaby may not make one fall asleep. Similarly, the rhythm throughout the poem and repetition of the lines gives the reader a sense of a song and draws one to understand what the poet is trying to bring out. The narrator utilizes pantoum in this poem. This means that despite the author having five stanzas in each quatrain, only ten of the twenty lines are unique. The second line of the poem’s stanza is the first line of the following stanza as the last line becomes the second final of the next stanza. However, the last stanza differs in this pattern as the second and last (fourth) lines of the penultimate becomes the last stanza’s first and third lines. The circularity in this poem is satisfying and makes one want to continue reading.
Restlessness as a theme in the poem is evident though, brought out in a personified character of sleep. The narrator says “Sleep, she will not linger…You cannot hope to hold her.” In this stanza, the narrator’s quest to find ...