Dreamland
Here you will see strange happeningsWith absolutely placid eyes;If all your uncles sprouted wingsYou would not feel the least surprise;The oddest things that you can doDon't seem a bit absurd to you.
You go (in Dreamland) to a ball,And suddenly are shocked to findThat you have nothing on at all,--But somehow no one seems to mind;And, naturally, you don't care,If they can bear what you can bare!
Then, in a moment, you're pursuedBy engines on a railway track!Your legs are tied, your feet are glued,The train comes snorting down your back!One last attempt at flight you makeAnd so (in bed) perspiring wake.
You feel so free from weight of caresThat, if the staircase you should climb,You gaily mount, not single stairs,But whole battalions at a time;(My metaphor is mixed, may be,I quote from Shakespeare, as you see).
If you should eat too much, you pay(In dreams) the penalty for this;A nightmare carries you awayAnd drops you down a precipice!Down! down! until, with sudden smack,You strike the mattress with your back.
Words in this poem
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- dreamland n.
- An unreal, delightful country such as in sometimes pictured in dreams; region of fancies; fairyland.
- somehow adv.
- In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- mattress n.
- A quilted bed; a bed stuffed with hair, moss, or other suitable material, and quilted or otherwise fastened. [OF. materas, F. matelas, LL. matratium; cf. Sp. & Pg. almadraque, Pr. almatrac; all from Ar. matsrah a place where anything is thrown, what is thrown under some]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dreamland is in the public domain. This text is taken from Verse and Worse, Project Gutenberg ebook #36702; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harry Graham, Dreamland, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/dreamland.html, id L23319.
Form and metre
Dreamland is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABABCC happeningsA · eyesB · wingsA · surpriseB · doC · youC
- 2 ABABCC ballA · findB · allA · mindB · careC · bareC
- 3 ABABCC pursuedA · trackB · gluedA · backB · makeC · wakeC
- 4 ABABCC caresA · climbB · stairsA · timeB · beC · seeC
- 5 ABABCC payA · thisB · awayA · precipiceB · smackC · backC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here you will see strange happenings | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| With absolutely placid eyes; | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| If all your uncles sprouted wings | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| You would not feel the least surprise; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The oddest things that you can do | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Don't seem a bit absurd to you. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| You go (in Dreamland) to a ball, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And suddenly are shocked to find | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| That you have nothing on at all,-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But somehow no one seems to mind; | 8 | ·/······ |
| And, naturally, you don't care, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘··· |
| If they can bear what you can bare! | 8 | ········ |
| Then, in a moment, you're pursued | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| By engines on a railway track! | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Your legs are tied, your feet are glued, | 8 | ········ |
| The train comes snorting down your back! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| One last attempt at flight you make | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And so (in bed) perspiring wake. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| You feel so free from weight of cares | 8 | ········ |
| That, if the staircase you should climb, | 8 | ···/···· |
| You gaily mount, not single stairs, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But whole battalions at a time; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| (My metaphor is mixed, may be, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| I quote from Shakespeare, as you see). | 8 | ···/···· |
| If you should eat too much, you pay | 8 | ········ |
| (In dreams) the penalty for this; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| A nightmare carries you away | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| And drops you down a precipice! | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Down! down! until, with sudden smack, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| You strike the mattress with your back. | 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.