The Dreame
Image of her whom I love, more then she,Whose faire impression in my faithfull heart,Makes mee her Medall, and makes her love mee,As Kings do coynes, to which their stamps impartThe value: goe, and take my heart from hence,Which now is growne too great and good for me:Honours oppresse weake spirits, and our senseStrong objects dull; the more, the lesse wee see.When you are gone, and Reason gone with you,Then Fantasie is Queene and Soule, and all;She can present joyes meaner then you do;Convenient, and more proportionall.So, if I dreame I have you, I have you,For, all our joyes are but fantasticall.And so I scape the paine, for paine is true;And sleepe which locks up sense, doth lock out all.After a such fruition I shall wake,And, but the waking, nothing shall repent;And shall to love more thankfull Sonnets make,Then if more honour, teares, and paines were spent.But dearest heart, and dearer image stay;Alas, true joyes at best are dreame enough;Though you stay here you passe too fast away:For even at first lifes Taper is a snuffe.Fill'd with her love, may I be rather grownMad with much heart, then ideott with none.
Words in this poem
- faithfull a.
- Full of faith, or having faith; disposed to believe, especially in the declarations and promises of God.
- medall n.
- A piece of metal in the form of a coin, struck with a device, and intended to preserve the remembrance of a notable event or an illustrious person, or to serve as a reward. [F. médaille, It. medaglia, fr. L. metallum metal, through (assumed) LL. metalleus made of metal. See Metal, and cf. Mail a piece of money.]
- convenient a.
- Fit or adapted; suitable; proper; becoming; appropriate. [L. conveniens, -entis, suitable, p.pr. of convenire to be suitable, to come. See Convene, v. i.]
- proportionall a.
- Having a due proportion, or comparative relation; being in suitable proportion or degree; as, the parts of an edifice are proportional. [L. proportionalis: cf. F. proportionnel.]
- fantasticall a.
- Fanciful; unreal; whimsical; capricious; fantastic.
- fruition n.
- Use or possession of anything, especially such as is accompanied with pleasure or satisfaction; pleasure derived from possession or use. [OF. fruition, L. fruitio, enjoyment, fr. L. frui, p. p. fruitus, to use or enjoy. See Fruit, n.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- repent a.
- Prostrate and rooting; -- said of stems. Gray. [L. repens, -entis, creeping, p. pr. of repere to creep.]
- thankfull a.
- Obtaining or deserving thanks; thankworthy. [AS. Þancfull.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dreame is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #48688; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Donne, The Dreame, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/the-dreame-2.html, id L04928.
Form and metre
The Dreame is 26 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCACADEDEDEDEFGFGHIHI-- sheA · heartB · meeA · impartB · henceC · meA · senseC · seeA · youD · allE · doD · proportionallE · youD · fantasticallE · trueD · allE · wakeF · repentG · makeF · spentG · stayH · enoughI · awayH · snuffeI · grown · none
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Image of her whom I love, more then she, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Whose faire impression in my faithfull heart, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Makes mee her Medall, and makes her love mee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| As Kings do coynes, to which their stamps impart | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The value: goe, and take my heart from hence, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Which now is growne too great and good for me: | 10 | ·········· |
| Honours oppresse weake spirits, and our sense | 10 | /˘···/˘·/· |
| Strong objects dull; the more, the lesse wee see. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When you are gone, and Reason gone with you, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Then Fantasie is Queene and Soule, and all; | 10 | ·········· |
| She can present joyes meaner then you do; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Convenient, and more proportionall. | 9 | ˘/˘··˘/˘˘ |
| So, if I dreame I have you, I have you, | 10 | ·········· |
| For, all our joyes are but fantasticall. | 10 | ··/······· |
| And so I scape the paine, for paine is true; | 10 | ·········· |
| And sleepe which locks up sense, doth lock out all. | 10 | ·········· |
| After a such fruition I shall wake, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And, but the waking, nothing shall repent; | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And shall to love more thankfull Sonnets make, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Then if more honour, teares, and paines were spent. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But dearest heart, and dearer image stay; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Alas, true joyes at best are dreame enough; | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Though you stay here you passe too fast away: | 11 | ······/··˘/ |
| For even at first lifes Taper is a snuffe. | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Fill'd with her love, may I be rather grown | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Mad with much heart, then ideott with none. | 9 | ········· |
Notes from the edition 5
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Line 7 sense] sense, 1633
- Line 8 dull; 1635-69: dull, 1633
- Line 16 out] up B, P, S
- Line 17 a such 1633-54: such a 1669
- Line 22 dreame] dreams 1669
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.