A Lost Dream
Ah, I have changed, I do not knowWhy lonely hours affect me so.In days of yore, this were not wont,No loneliness my soul could daunt.
For me too serious for my age,The weighty tome of hoary sage,Until with puzzled heart astir,One God-giv'n night, I dreamed of her.
I loved no woman, hardly knewMore of the sex that strong men wooThan cloistered monk within his cell;But now the dream is lost, and hell
Holds me her captive tight and fastWho prays and struggles for the past.No living maid has charmed my eyes,But now, my soul is wonder-wise.
For I have dreamed of her and seenHer red-brown tresses' ruddy sheen,Have known her sweetness, lip to lip,The joy of her companionship.
When days were bleak and winds were rude,She shared my smiling solitude,And all the bare hills walked with meTo hearken winter's melody.
And when the spring came o'er the landWe fared together hand in handBeneath the linden's leafy screenThat waved above us faintly green.
In summer, by the river-side,Our souls were kindred with the tideThat floated onward to the seaAs we swept toward Eternity.
The bird's call and the water's droneWere all for us and us alone.The water-fall that sang all nightWas her companion, my delight,
And e'en the squirrel, as he spedAlong the branches overhead,Half kindly and half envious,Would chatter at the joy of us.
'Twas but a dream, her face, her hair,The spring-time sweet, the winter bare,The summer when the woods we ranged,--'Twas but a dream, but all is changed.
Yes, all is changed and all has fled,The dream is broken, shattered, dead.And yet, sometimes, I pray to knowHow just a dream could hold me so.
Words in this poem
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- daunt v. t.
- To overcome; to conquer. [OF. danter, F. dompter to tame, subdue, fr. L. domitare, v. intens. of domare to tame. See Tame.]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- astir adv.
- Stirring; in a state of activity or motion; out of bed. [Pref. a- + stir.]
- cloistered a.
- Dwelling in cloisters; solitary.
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Lost Dream is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, A Lost Dream, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/a-lost-dream.html, id L00876.
Form and metre
A Lost Dream is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 9 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AA-- knowA · soA · wont · daunt
- 2 AABB ageA · sageA · astirB · herB
- 3 AABB knewA · wooA · cellB · hellB
- 4 AABB fastA · pastA · eyesB · wiseB
- 5 AABB seenA · sheenA · lipB · companionshipB
- 6 AA-- rudeA · solitudeA · me · melody
- 7 AABB landA · handA · screenB · greenB
- 8 AA-- sideA · tideA · sea · eternity
- 9 AABB droneA · aloneA · nightB · delightB
- 10 AABB spedA · overheadA · enviousB · usB
- 11 AABB hairA · bareA · rangedB · changedB
- 12 AABB fledA · deadA · knowB · soB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ah, I have changed, I do not know | 8 | ········ |
| Why lonely hours affect me so. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| In days of yore, this were not wont, | 8 | ········ |
| No loneliness my soul could daunt. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| For me too serious for my age, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The weighty tome of hoary sage, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Until with puzzled heart astir, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| One God-giv'n night, I dreamed of her. | 8 | ········ |
| I loved no woman, hardly knew | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| More of the sex that strong men woo | 8 | ········ |
| Than cloistered monk within his cell; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But now the dream is lost, and hell | 8 | ········ |
| Holds me her captive tight and fast | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who prays and struggles for the past. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No living maid has charmed my eyes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But now, my soul is wonder-wise. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For I have dreamed of her and seen | 8 | ········ |
| Her red-brown tresses' ruddy sheen, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Have known her sweetness, lip to lip, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The joy of her companionship. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| When days were bleak and winds were rude, | 8 | ········ |
| She shared my smiling solitude, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And all the bare hills walked with me | 8 | ········ |
| To hearken winter's melody. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And when the spring came o'er the land | 8 | ········ |
| We fared together hand in hand | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Beneath the linden's leafy screen | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| That waved above us faintly green. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In summer, by the river-side, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Our souls were kindred with the tide | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| That floated onward to the sea | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| As we swept toward Eternity. | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| The bird's call and the water's drone | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Were all for us and us alone. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The water-fall that sang all night | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Was her companion, my delight, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| And e'en the squirrel, as he sped | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Along the branches overhead, | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘/ |
| Half kindly and half envious, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Would chatter at the joy of us. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Twas but a dream, her face, her hair, | 8 | ········ |
| The spring-time sweet, the winter bare, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The summer when the woods we ranged,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Twas but a dream, but all is changed. | 8 | ········ |
| Yes, all is changed and all has fled, | 8 | ········ |
| The dream is broken, shattered, dead. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And yet, sometimes, I pray to know | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| How just a dream could hold me so. | 8 | ········ |
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.