Bereft, She Thinks She Dreams
I DREAM that the dearest I ever knewHas died and been entombed.I am sure it’s a dream that cannot be true,But I am so overgloomedBy its persistence, that I would gladlyHave quick death take me,Rather than longer think thus sadly;So wake me, wake me!
It has lasted days, but minute and hourI expect to get arousedAnd find him as usual in the bowerWhere we so happily housed.Yet stays this nightmare too appalling,And like a web shakes me,And piteously I keep on calling,And no one wakes me!
Words in this poem
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
- happily adv.
- By chance; peradventure; haply. Piers Plowman. [From Happy.]
- appalling a.
- Such as to appall; as, an appalling accident.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bereft, She Thinks She Dreams is in the public domain. This text is taken from Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries, with Miscellaneous Pieces, Project Gutenberg ebook #2863; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hardy, Bereft, She Thinks She Dreams, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/bereft-she-thinks-she-dreams.html, id L24077.
Form and metre
Bereft, She Thinks She Dreams is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABABCDCD knewA · entombedB · trueA · overgloomedB · gladlyC · meD · sadlyC · meD
- 2 ABABCDCD hourA · arousedB · bowerA · housedB · appallingC · meD · callingC · meD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I DREAM that the dearest I ever knew | 9 | ····/˘·/· |
| Has died and been entombed. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| I am sure it’s a dream that cannot be true, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| But I am so overgloomed | 8 | ·······˘ |
| By its persistence, that I would gladly | 10 | ··˘/˘···/˘ |
| Have quick death take me, | 5 | ····· |
| Rather than longer think thus sadly; | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| So wake me, wake me! | 5 | ····· |
| It has lasted days, but minute and hour | 10 | ··/˘··/˘·/ |
| I expect to get aroused | 8 | ·˘/··˘/˘ |
| And find him as usual in the bower | 9 | ····/˘··/ |
| Where we so happily housed. | 8 | ···/˘˘·˘ |
| Yet stays this nightmare too appalling, | 9 | ···/··˘/˘ |
| And like a web shakes me, | 6 | ······ |
| And piteously I keep on calling, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And no one wakes me! | 5 | ····· |
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.