18 pages • 36 minutes read
Sleeping with the Dictionary
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Themes
Linking Sex and Poetry
“Sleeping with the Dictionary” links poetry with sex. The word “verse,” which refers to poetry, is embedded throughout the poem. For instance, in the second sentence, “verse” appears in the words “well-versed” and “averse”; “vers” appears in “versatile” and “conversant”; and “ver” appears in “verbal.” These variations on the word and its syllables/roots remind the reader of the dictionary. Furthermore, the link between verse and sexuality becomes more blatant in the word “perverse,” in the sixth sentence. When broken down, “per” can mean “for each” or “by means of,” so “perverse” can indicate seduction by means of verse, or in units of verse. This deconstruction of language is part of Mullen’s intimacy with not just complete words, but also syllables and sounds.
Mullen explicitly mentions syllables in the fourth sentence. The dictionary contains “accented syllables,” which poets use when writing metered verse. The accent marks show which syllables are stressed or unstressed. The dictionary offers a visual representation of how words are pronounced. Meter is linked to the auditory, or how words are heard when spoken. Mullen’s poem, as one paragraph of prose, does not use meter, but her mention of accented syllables aligns spoken poetry with sexual acts that use the mouth. This idea is developed in the phrase “toss words on their tongues,” in the long fourth sentence. Reading romantic poetry can be compared to foreplay with the tongue.
Other examples of double entendre linking poetry and sex include mental and manual stimulation. Poetry and sex both use the “imagination” and are both “unabridged” (uncensored or naked) acts. The mind, released from prudish controls, is an important part of sex for poets. Hands are referenced with the phrase “groping in the dark for an alluring word.” Seeking words is compared to seeking to touch erogenous zones. There are a number of other examples, but in some cases the relationship to poetry comes down to the poet’s relationship to language.
The Poet’s Relationship to Language
“Sleeping with the Dictionary” is erotically fascinated with the structures of language as well as the structures of poetry. Language is like a drug or spiritual practice; in the third sentence, the “trance of language” teeters on the edge of dreams. This evokes how chanting—the power of repeated words—can alter brain wave patterns. Brain function is also deeply altered by sex and the neurochemicals it releases. Exiting the “logic of language” is discussed in the seventh sentence. This can be described as being out of place; etymologically (based on the meanings of its root words), the word ecstasy “means out of place.” Losing the capacity for language is often related to orgasm.
Mullen returns to the idea of the “hypnagogic trance of language” in the eighth sentence. The dictionary’s alphabetization can lead to a “dense lexicon of lucid hallucination.” In other words, an extensive, crowded vocabulary can lead to controlled visions, or a trance-like state. The dictionary functions almost as a spiritual text—something like a chant that can create altered states of being. Again, sex can function in a comparable manner. For instance, there are spiritual practices that utilize sexual activities—in place of or alongside chanting—to achieve a trance-state.
Liminality
Mullen is fascinated with liminal—transitional or transient—spaces in “Sleeping with the Dictionary.” Liminality means being situated between fixed locations. One fixed state is being awake, such as the “wide-awake reader.” Another fixed state is being asleep and dreaming, referenced in “rapid eye movement.” However, as mentioned above, the “hypnagogic” or “trance” state is given special attention. The poet examines the “conscious regimen of dreamers,” or the path to falling asleep. She also looks at “awakening [her] tired imagination,” which can refer to either waking up from sleep, or preparing the mind for dreaming, or both. Like other double entendre in the poem, there is space for multiple meanings, or transience between meanings.
A common opinion is that reading the dictionary is soporific: It induces sleep. Sex can also be something that helps one fall asleep, but through physical exhaustion rather than boredom. Mullen argues that the dictionary is more like sex—both exciting and aiding in sleep as a “stimulating sedative.”
This liminal or transient space is connected to not only sex, but also the creation of poetry. Poetics, or the study of poetry, includes ideas of inspiration coming from muses, angels, or altered states. Rather than taking drugs or chanting, Mullen’s speaker is inspired by the act of reading in this poem. It is the very words—their meanings and how they are pronounced—that create different patterns in her brain.
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By Harryette Mullen
