A Dream-Song
The stars are spinning their threads,And the clouds are the dust that flies,And the suns are weaving them upFor the day when the sleepers arise.
The ocean in music rolls,The gems are turning to eyes,And the trees are gathering soulsFor the day when the sleepers arise.
The weepers are learning to smile,And laughter to glean the sighs,And hearts to bury their care and guileFor the day when the sleepers arise.
Oh, the dews and the moths and the daisy-red,The larks and the glimmers and flows!The lilies and sparrows and daily bread,And the something that nobody knows!
Words in this poem
- glean n.
- Cleaning; afterbirth. Holland.
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Dream-Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, A Dream-Song, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/a-dream-song.html, id L22503.
Form and metre
A Dream-Song is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in anapaestic common 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 -A-A threads · fliesA · up · ariseA
- 2 ABAB rollsA · eyesB · soulsA · ariseB
- 3 ABAB smileA · sighsB · guileA · ariseB
- 4 ABAB redA · flowsB · breadA · knowsB
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 anapaestic common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The stars are spinning their threads, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And the clouds are the dust that flies, | 8 | ········ |
| And the suns are weaving them up | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| For the day when the sleepers arise. | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| The ocean in music rolls, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| The gems are turning to eyes, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And the trees are gathering souls | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| For the day when the sleepers arise. | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| The weepers are learning to smile, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And laughter to glean the sighs, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And hearts to bury their care and guile | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| For the day when the sleepers arise. | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| Oh, the dews and the moths and the daisy-red, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| The larks and the glimmers and flows! | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The lilies and sparrows and daily bread, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| And the something that nobody knows! | 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.