Dreams
Dream on, for dreams are sweet:Do not awaken!Dream on, and at thy feetPomegranates shall be shaken.
Who likeneth the youthOf life to morning?'Tis like the night in truth,Rose-coloured dreams adorning.
The wind is soft above,The shadows umber.(There is a dream called Love.)Take thou the fullest slumber!
In Lethe's soothing stream,Thy thirst thou slakest.Sleep, sleep; 't is sweet to dream.Oh, weep when thou awakest!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dreams 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, Dreams, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/dreams.html, id L00608.
Form and metre
Dreams is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short measure.
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 ABAB sweetA · awakenB · feetA · shakenB
- 2 ABAB youthA · morningB · truthA · adorningB
- 3 ABAB aboveA · umberB · loveA · slumberB
- 4 ABAB streamA · slakestB · dreamA · awakestB
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dream on, for dreams are sweet: | 6 | ······ |
| Do not awaken! | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Dream on, and at thy feet | 6 | ······ |
| Pomegranates shall be shaken. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Who likeneth the youth | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Of life to morning? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| 'Tis like the night in truth, | 6 | ······ |
| Rose-coloured dreams adorning. | 8 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| The wind is soft above, | 6 | ······ |
| The shadows umber. | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| (There is a dream called Love.) | 7 | ·····˘· |
| Take thou the fullest slumber! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| In Lethe's soothing stream, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Thy thirst thou slakest. | 5 | ····· |
| Sleep, sleep; 't is sweet to dream. | 7 | ······· |
| Oh, weep when thou awakest! | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
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.