SOMNUS 



5440 



SONS OF LIBERTY 



closed, or half closed, or wide open, he does not 

 see; that he can neither taste nor smell. But 

 he is usually endowed with marvelous muscu- 

 lar control. Sleepwalkers have been known to 

 write letters, to paint pictures, or to perform 

 other familiar tasks; they have also been 

 known to climb steep roofs and to walk along 

 the. ridges, to follow narrow and dangerous 

 paths, and to accomplish other feats which they 

 could not perform if they were conscious. 

 When a somnambulist awakes, if he remembers 

 anything at all, he remembers it merely as a 

 dream. 



Somnambulism occurs most often in highly 

 sensitive or neurotic individuals, and seems to 

 be aggravated by ill health and sometimes by 

 heavy eating. Relief is secured by building up 

 the general health of the patient and by guard- 

 ing him against nervous strain and shock. A 

 sleepwalker should not be awakened suddenly. 



Consult Janet's The Mental State of Hysteri- 

 cals ; Tuke's Sleepwalking and Hypnotism. 



SOM'NUS, in Greek mythology, the god of 

 sleep, and the son of Erebus and Nox. He 

 dwelt in a great cave in a remote and quiet 

 valley with his brother Mors, the god of death. 

 Shadowy forms kept watch about the mouth 

 of the cave, and shook great bunches of pop- 

 pies, while they enjoined silence upon all who 

 came near. In one of the darkened inner 

 rooms of the cave drowsy Somnus lay upon 

 his couch, clothed in black garments studded 

 with stars. On his head was a crown of pop- 

 pies, and in his hand a goblet of poppy juice. 

 Morpheus, his prime minister, supported his 

 head and protected him during his slumbers. 

 Pleasant Dreams hovered about his couch, and 

 hideous Nightmares lurked in the darkened 

 corners. Sometimes the Dreams were sent out 

 of this valley by way of glittering ivory gates 

 to the earth, where tkey warned mortals of 

 coming misfortunes. 



SONNET, sahn' et, a form of poem, a branch 

 of the lyric (see LYRIC POETRY), which is lim- 

 ited to fourteen lines, rhymed according to 

 a very definite plan. This verse form origi- 

 nated in Italy, and was given its classic form 

 by Petrarch. He arranged the lines of a sonnet 

 in two groups, an eight-line group known as the 

 octave and a six-line group known as the sestet. 

 There are but two rhymes in the octave, the 

 usual arrangement being abba, abba, while the 

 sestet may have either two or three rhymes 

 which may be placed according to various 

 schemes. The sestet may not, however, be 

 broken into couplets. 



The sonnet was introduced into England 

 'about the middle of the sixteenth century by 

 the Earl of Surrey and was immensely popular 

 with the writers of the Elizabethan age, Spen- 

 ser and Shakespeare having each produced 

 numerous examples. They varied the rhyme 

 scheme, however, from the Petrarchan original, 

 and Shakespeare's method has been adopted by 

 many of his successors. Instead of two quat- 

 rains and a sestet, he made of the sonnet three 

 quatrains and a couplet, rhymed usually abab, 

 cdcd, ejej, gg. 



As it is so brief, the sonnet must be limited 

 to one idea or emotion. Among the romance 

 peoples any type of subject, light or serious, 

 may be treated in a sonnet, but in English 

 sonnets usually none but the graver thoughts 

 and sentiments find place. The very greatest 

 of English poets have particularly delighted in 

 this form of poem, seeming to realize that by 

 its means they could attain a gemlike perfec- 

 tion impossible otherwise; and Shakespeare, 

 Milton, Wordsworth and Keats are the great 

 names in the history of the sonnet in England. 

 Mrs. Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese 

 have a high place among love poems, and 

 many of Rossetti's sonnets are exquisite. Per- 

 haps the best-known sonnet in English is Mil- 

 ton's On His Own Blindness; it is given below, 

 both for its own worth and to show the con- 

 struction of a sonnet: 

 When I consider how my light is spent 



Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, 



And that one talent which is death to hide 

 Lodged with me useless, though my soul more 



bent 

 To serve therewith my Maker, and present 



My true account, lest he, returning, chide ; 



"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" 

 I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent 

 That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need 



Either man's work, or his own gifts. Who best 



Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His 



state 

 Is kingly ; thousands at his bidding speed, 



And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; 



They also serve who only stand and wait." 



Consult Quiller-Couch's English Sonnets, with 

 Introduction and Notes; Hall Caine's Sonnets of 

 Three Centuries. 



SONS OF LIB'ERTY, the name adopted 

 by an organization among the American colo- 

 nists which actively opposed the Stamp Act. 

 It was not a single society with a central gov- 

 ernment, but a group of patriotic associations 

 which sprang up simultaneously in the different 

 colonies, those of New York and Connecticut 

 becoming strongest. Through committees of 

 correspondence the work of the different so- 



