A Mid-Day Dreamer
I love to sit alone, and dream,And dream, and dream;In fancy's boat to softly glideAlong some streamWhere fairy palaces of goldAnd crystal brightStand all along the glistening shore:A wondrous sight.
My craft is built of ivory,With silver oars,The sails are spun of golden threads,And priceless storesOf precious gems adorn its prow,And 'round its mastAn hundred silken cords are setTo hold it fast.
My galley-slaves are sprightly elvesWho, as they row,And as their shining oars they swingThem to and fro,Keep time to music wafted onThe scented air,Made by the mermaids as they combTheir golden hair.
And I the while lie idly back,And dream, and dream,And let them row me where they willAdown the stream.
Words in this poem
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
- priceless a.
- Too valuable to admit of being appraised; of inestimable worth; invaluable.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Mid-Day Dreamer is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, A Mid-Day Dreamer, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/a-mid-day-dreamer.html, id L08314.
Form and metre
A Mid-Day Dreamer is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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-A-B-B dreamA · dreamA · glide · streamA · gold · brightB · shore · sightB
- 2 -A-A-B-B ivory · oarsA · threads · storesA · prow · mastB · set · fastB
- 3 -A-A-B-B elves · rowA · swing · froA · on · airB · comb · hairB
- 4 -A-A back · dreamA · will · streamA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I love to sit alone, and dream, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And dream, and dream; | 4 | ···· |
| In fancy's boat to softly glide | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Along some stream | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Where fairy palaces of gold | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| And crystal bright | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Stand all along the glistening shore: | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| A wondrous sight. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| My craft is built of ivory, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| With silver oars, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The sails are spun of golden threads, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And priceless stores | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Of precious gems adorn its prow, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And 'round its mast | 4 | ···· |
| An hundred silken cords are set | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To hold it fast. | 4 | ···· |
| My galley-slaves are sprightly elves | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Who, as they row, | 4 | ···· |
| And as their shining oars they swing | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Them to and fro, | 4 | ···· |
| Keep time to music wafted on | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The scented air, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Made by the mermaids as they comb | 8 | ···/···· |
| Their golden hair. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And I the while lie idly back, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And dream, and dream, | 4 | ···· |
| And let them row me where they will | 8 | ········ |
| Adown the stream. | 4 | ˘/·· |
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.