Analysis of Dreams
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I had a dream, a dream of dread:
I thought that horror held the house;
A burglar bent above my bed,
He moved as quiet as a mouse.
With hairy hand and naked knife
He poised to plunge a bloody stroke,
Until despairful of my life
I shrieked with terror - and awoke.
I had a dream of weary woes:
In weather that was fit to freeze,
I thought that I had lost my cloths,
And only wore a short chemise.
The wind was wild; so catch a train
I ran, but no advance did make;
My legs were pistoning in vain -
How I was happy to awake!
I had a dream: Upon the stair
I met a maid who kissed my lips;
A nightie was her only wear,
We almost came to loving grips.
And then she opened wide a door,
And pointed to a bonny bed . . .
Oh blast! I wakened up before
I could discover - were we wed?
Alas! Those dreams of broken bliss,
Of wakenings too sadly soon!
With memories of sticky kiss,
And limbs so languidly a-swoon!
Alas those nightmares devil driven!
Those pantless prowlings in Pall Mall!
Oh why should some dreams be like heaven
And others so resemble hell?
Scheme | ABABCDCD XEXEFGFG HIHIJAJA KLKLMXMX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 11110101 01010111 11110101 11010101 11110101 011111 11110001 11011101 01011111 11111111 01010101 01111101 11110111 110101 11110101 11010101 11011111 0110101 1111101 01110101 01010101 1111101 11010011 01111101 111101 11001101 011101 01111010 111011 111111110 01010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,022 |
Words | 209 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 200 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 114 Views
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"Dreams" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32085/dreams>.
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