Explanation:
How sweet it were, hearing the downward stream,
With half-shut eyes ever to seem
Falling asleep in a half-dream!
Answer: These lines have been taken from the choric song of the poem “The Lotos Eaters” by Alfred Tennyson. Here the mariners express a deep wish to spend the rest of their life on lotos island. They speak about the benefits of living here in an exalted state.
After the long and arduous sea journey, the mariners reached Lotos island. They ate lots of fruits and became overpowered by a sense of inaction, lethargy, and melancholy. They wanted to travel no more. Instead, they wished to lead a life of complete rest and peace. They thought that their present life on lotos island offered -them the best life. Here they would be living in a state of perpetual sleep and dream. In their sweet dream, they would hear the lulling sounds. They would observe the charming ripples and the creamy foam on the beach. They would not engage in active life, but rather recall their past life only in memory. Thus, in their heightened state of consciousness, induced by the lotos fruits, they envision an Edenic life. These lines show Tennyson's power of creating sweet and dream-like verses with the aid of alliteration and assonance.
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