Analysis of Dreams
Emma Lazarus 1849 (New York City) – 1887 (New York City)
A DREAM of lilies: all the blooming earth,
A garden full of fairies and of flowers;
Its only music the glad cry of mirth,
While the warm sun weaves golden-tissued hours;
Hope a bright angel, beautiful and true
As Truth herself, and life a lovely toy,
Which ne'er will weary us, ne'er break, a new
Eternal source of pleasure and of joy.
A dream of roses: vision of Loves tree,
Of beauty and of madness, and as bright
As naught on earth save only dreams can be,
Made fair and odorous with flower and light;
A dream that Love is strong to outlast Time,
That hearts are stronger than forgetfulness,
The slippery sand than changeful waves that climb,
The wind-blown foam than mighty waters' stress.
A dream of laurels: after much is gone,
Much buried, much lamented, much forgot,
With what remains to do and what is done,
With what yet is, and what, alas! is not,
Man dreams a dream of laurel and of bays,
A dream of crowns and guerdons and rewards,
Wherein sounds sweet the hollow voice of praise,
And bright appears the wreath that it awards.
A dream of poppies, sad and true as Truth,—
That all these dreams were dreams of vanity;
And full of bitter penitence and ruth,
In his last dream, man deems 'twere good to die;
And weeping o'er the visions vain of yore,
In the sad vigils he doth nightly keep,
He dreams it may be good to dream no more,
And life has nothing like Death's dreamless sleep.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGBGX XHXHIJIJ KEKXLMLM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111010101 01011100110 1101001111 1011110110 1011010001 1101010101 1111011101 0101110011 0111010111 1100110011 1111110111 11010011001 011111111 1111011 0100111111 0111110101 0111010111 1101010101 1101110111 1111010111 1101110011 011101001 0111010111 0101011101 0111010111 1111011100 01110101 0111111111 01010010111 0011011101 1111111111 011101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,372 |
Words | 261 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 271 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 113 Views
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"Dreams" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12672/dreams>.
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