Key Facts

• Writer: W. H. Auden (1907 – 1973)
•  Original Title: “Lullaby”
•  First Line: “Lay your sleeping head, my love, / Human on my faithless arm.”
•  Source: Originally published in The Ascent of F6 (1936), later included in Another Time (1940)
•  Written Time: 1937
•  Published Date: 1937
•  Form: Lyric poem in four stanzas of ten lines each (irregular meter and rhyme)
•  Genre: Love poem / Modernist lyric / Romantic meditation
•  Tone: Tender, intimate, reflective, and slightly melancholy
•  Point of View: First-person speaker addressing a sleeping lover
•  Total Lines: 40 lines (4 stanzas × 10 lines)
•  Total Parts: Single poem (4 connected stanzas)
•  Time Setting: Nighttime between love’s passion and morning awareness
•  Place Setting: Private, intimate room,  symbolic of love’s temporary peace