Can somebody help me to make a commentary on Keats' sonnet "to sleep":

O soft embalmer of the still midnight,
Shutting, with careful fingers and benign,
Our gloom-pleas'd eyes, emboyer'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine:
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close
In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes,
Or wait te "Amen," ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities.
Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes,--
Save me from curious Conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards,
And seal the hushed Casket of my Soul.

Thank you very much!!

Define commentary. What is it you're supposed to do. What level is it? University, high school?

As a start: keats personifies Sleep and Conscience. He talks to Sleep (in a monologue) and asks him to save him from Conscience. That means, he wants to sleep. Probably suffering from insomnia.

I hope you don't mind that I'll post your email here, since then others can join in as well:

"I study English at university (2nd year). In a commentary, you have to
"explain" the poem from a more concrete point of view (first part) to a more
abstract theme (3rd part). Usually with a sonnet we start with its
structure. But with "to sleep" I don't really understand the "purpose" of
the poem. Do you think that sleep can be understood as "death" . In my
commentary, I have to explain what the author means!!
thank you,sab."

Ok, here's my interpretation, but feel free to disagree completely!

Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes

seems like me it is really a case of not being able to sleep. He asks Sleep to save him (i.e. to make him sleep) before it is light. I think it will be very hard to proof that it is about death.
So the practical purpose of the poem is, imho, a sort of prayer to make him sleep. He prays to Sleep, as if it is a God. He prays desperately to make him sleep. Ever had sleeping problems? I did, and I know what it feels like to be nearly asleep and then caught by some thoughts again (conscience here in the poem): as soon as that happened I knew I'd be awake for another hour at least. Can make you feel pretty desperate at times.

But very interesting is the High style he uses for the poem. It is quite a down to earth subject, which he amplifies in this way. There is a nice opposition between good and evil: his savior, sleep and the dark counterpart conscience. Maybe you can draw that even further to innocence vs eh well the counterpart. (I'm not a native speaker, sorry)

What always helps me a lot is to get a lot of secondary literature on both the author as the specific poem and skip through it for ideas. Especially ones I don't agree with. That gives you loads to write about. Maybe some others have some more ideas?

Although I agree with Desi that this poem is about needing sleep, Keats does use plenty of 'death' terminology-- embalmer, enshaded, casket- and perhaps you could do something with that. Is he so desparate for sleep that he wishes he could die?

The 'poppy' is a reference to opium-- he wants sleep to drug him.

You might also think about how other writers handled the issue. Here's a couple of Shakespearean examples. Hamlet desired the sleep of death (Act 3, Scene 1), but was afraid that it would bring evil dreams. Keats isn't worrying about dreams, he just wants sleep. In Henry V, the king can't sleep due to the worries and cares of his people. (Act 4, Scene 1)

pam