Analysis of A Dream
Matthew Arnold 1822 (Laleham) – 1888 (Liverpool)
Was it a dream? We sail'd, I thought we sail'd,
Martin and I, down the green Alpine stream,
Border'd, each bank, with pines; the morning sun,
On the wet umbrage of their glossy tops,
On the red pinings of their forest-floor,
Drew a warm scent abroad; behind the pines
The mountain-skirts, with all their sylvan change
Of bright-leaf'd chestnuts and moss'd walnut-trees
And the frail scarlet-berried ash, began.
Swiss chalets glitter'd on the dewy slopes,
And from some swarded shelf, high up, there came
Notes of wild pastoral music--over all
Ranged, diamond-bright, the eternal wall of snow.
Upon the mossy rocks at the stream's edge,
Back'd by the pines, a plank-built cottage stood,
Bright in the sun; the climbing gourd-plant's leaves
Muffled its walls, and on the stone-strewn roof
Lay the warm golden gourds; golden, within,
Under the eaves, peer'd rows of Indian corn.
We shot beneath the cottage with the stream.
On the brown, rude-carved balcony, two forms
Came forth--Olivia's, Marguerite! and thine.
Clad were they both in white, flowers in their breast;
Straw hats bedeck'd their heads, with ribbons blue,
Which danced, and on their shoulders, fluttering, play'd.
They saw us, they conferred; their bosoms heaved,
And more than mortal impulse fill'd their eyes.
Their lips moved; their white arms, waved eagerly,
Flash'd once, like falling streams; we rose, we gazed.
One moment, on the rapid's top, our boat
Hung poised--and then the darting river of Life
(Such now, methought, it was), the river of Life,
Loud thundering, bore us by; swift, swift it foam'd,
Black under cliffs it raced, round headlands shone.
Soon the plank'd cottage by the sun-warm'd pines
Faded--the moss--the rocks; us burning plains,
Bristled with cities, us the sea received.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSBTUVWXYZ1 2 3 4 4 A5 F6 Y |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111111 100110111 1011110101 1011011101 101111101 1011010101 0101111101 111100111 001101101 1011010101 011111111 11110010101 11010010111 010111011 1101011101 1001010111 1011010111 1011011001 10011111001 1101010101 1011110011 1101000101 10110110011 1101111101 11011101001 111101111 0111010111 1111111100 1111011111 1101011101 11010101011 1111101011 11001111111 110111111 1011010111 1001011101 1011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,741 |
Words | 288 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 37 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,363 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 286 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:32 min read
- 146 Views
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