Dream Song I
Long years ago, within a distant clime,Ere Love had touched me with his wand sublime,I dreamed of one to make my life's calm MayThe panting passion of a summer's day.And ever since, in almost sad suspense,I have been waiting with a soul intenseTo greet and take unto myself the beams,Of her, my star, the lady of my dreams.
O Love, still longed and looked for, come to me,Be thy far home by mountain, vale, or sea.My yearning heart may never find its restUntil thou liest rapt upon my breast.The wind may bring its perfume from the south,Is it so sweet as breath from my love's mouth?Oh, naught that surely is, and naught that seemsMay turn me from the lady of my dreams.
Words in this poem
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- rapt n.
- An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dream Song I 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, Dream Song I, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/dream-song-i.html, id L00618.
Form and metre
Dream Song I is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCCDD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 25% 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 AABBCCDD climeA · sublimeA · mayB · dayB · suspenseC · intenseC · beamsD · dreamsD
- 2 AABBCCDD meA · seaA · restB · breastB · southC · mouthC · seemsD · dreamsD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Long years ago, within a distant clime, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Ere Love had touched me with his wand sublime, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| I dreamed of one to make my life's calm May | 10 | ·········· |
| The panting passion of a summer's day. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And ever since, in almost sad suspense, | 10 | ·/˘··/··˘/ |
| I have been waiting with a soul intense | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| To greet and take unto myself the beams, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Of her, my star, the lady of my dreams. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O Love, still longed and looked for, come to me, | 10 | ·········· |
| Be thy far home by mountain, vale, or sea. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My yearning heart may never find its rest | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Until thou liest rapt upon my breast. | 9 | ········· |
| The wind may bring its perfume from the south, | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| Is it so sweet as breath from my love's mouth? | 10 | ·········· |
| Oh, naught that surely is, and naught that seems | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| May turn me from the lady of my dreams. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.