The Dream
Believe me, this was true last night,Tho’ it is false to-day.
A fair dream to my chamber flew:Such a crowd of folk that stirred,Jested, fluttered; only you,You alone of all that band,Calm and silent, spake no word.Only once you neared my place,And your hand one moment’s spaceSought the fingers of my hand;Your eyes flashed to mine; I knewAll was well between us two.
On from dream to dream I past,But the first sweet vision castMystic radiance o’er the last.
When I woke the pale night layStill, expectant of the day;All about the chamber hungTender shade of twilight gloom;The fair dream hovered round me, clungTo my thought like faint perfume:--Like sweet odours, such as clingTo the void flask, which erst enclosesAttar of rose; or the pale stringOf amber which has lain with roses.
Words in this poem
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- attar n.
- A fragrant essential oil; esp., a volatile and highly fragrant essential oil obtained from the petals of roses. [Also written otto and ottar.] [Per. 'atar perfume, essence, Ar. 'itr, fr. 'atara to smell sweet. Cf. Otto.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dream is in the public domain. This text is taken from A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #56974; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Levy, The Dream, in A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56974, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/levy-london-plane-tree/the-dream.html, id L21536.
Form and metre
The Dream is 25 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in trochaic 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.
- 2 ABACBDDCAA flewA · stirredB · youA · bandC · wordB · placeD · spaceD · handC · knewA · twoA
- 3 AAA pastA · castA · lastA
- 4 AABCBCDEDE layA · dayA · hungB · gloomC · clungB · perfumeC · clingD · enclosesE · stringD · rosesE
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Believe me, this was true last night, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Tho’ it is false to-day. | 6 | ······ |
| A fair dream to my chamber flew: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Such a crowd of folk that stirred, | 8 | ·······˘ |
| Jested, fluttered; only you, | 8 | /˘/˘˘/˘· |
| You alone of all that band, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Calm and silent, spake no word. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Only once you neared my place, | 8 | /˘···˘·· |
| And your hand one moment’s space | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sought the fingers of my hand; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Your eyes flashed to mine; I knew | 8 | ···˘···· |
| All was well between us two. | 7 | ······· |
| On from dream to dream I past, | 7 | ······· |
| But the first sweet vision cast | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Mystic radiance o’er the last. | 8 | /˘/˘˘··· |
| When I woke the pale night lay | 7 | ······· |
| Still, expectant of the day; | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| All about the chamber hung | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Tender shade of twilight gloom; | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| The fair dream hovered round me, clung | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To my thought like faint perfume:-- | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Like sweet odours, such as cling | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To the void flask, which erst encloses | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Attar of rose; or the pale string | 8 | /˘······ |
| Of amber which has lain with roses. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
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.