Dream-Life
Listen, friend, and I will tell youWhy I sometimes seem so glad,Then, without a reason changing,Soon become so grave and sad.
Half my life I live a beggar,Ragged, helpless, and alone;But the other half a monarch,With my courtiers round my throne.
Half my life is full of sorrow,Half of joy, still fresh and new;One of these lives is a fancy,But the other one is true.
While I live and feast on gladness,Still I feel the thought remain,This must soon end,--nearer, nearerComes the life of grief and pain.
While I live a wretched beggar,One bright hope my lot can cheer;Soon, soon, thou shalt have thy kingdom,Brighter hours are drawing near.
So you see my life is twofold,Half a pleasure, half a grief;Thus all joy is somewhat tempered,And all sorrow finds relief.
Which, you ask me, is the real life,Which the Dream--the joy, or woe?Hush, friend! it is little matter,And, indeed--I never know.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dream-Life is in the public domain. This text is taken from Legends and Lyrics. Part 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #2304; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adelaide Anne Procter, Dream-Life, in Legends and Lyrics: Second Series (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2304, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/procter-legends-lyrics/dream-life.html, id L21774.
Form and metre
Dream-Life is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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.
- 1 -A-A you · gladA · changing · sadA
- 2 -A-A beggar · aloneA · monarch · throneA
- 3 -A-A sorrow · newA · fancy · trueA
- 4 -A-A gladness · remainA · nearer · painA
- 5 -A-A beggar · cheerA · kingdom · nearA
- 6 -A-A twofold · griefA · tempered · reliefA
- 7 -A-A life · woeA · matter · knowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Listen, friend, and I will tell you | 8 | /˘······ |
| Why I sometimes seem so glad, | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Then, without a reason changing, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Soon become so grave and sad. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Half my life I live a beggar, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Ragged, helpless, and alone; | 8 | /˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| But the other half a monarch, | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| With my courtiers round my throne. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Half my life is full of sorrow, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Half of joy, still fresh and new; | 7 | ······· |
| One of these lives is a fancy, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| But the other one is true. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| While I live and feast on gladness, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Still I feel the thought remain, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| This must soon end,--nearer, nearer | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Comes the life of grief and pain. | 7 | ······· |
| While I live a wretched beggar, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| One bright hope my lot can cheer; | 7 | ······· |
| Soon, soon, thou shalt have thy kingdom, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Brighter hours are drawing near. | 8 | /˘/˘·/˘· |
| So you see my life is twofold, | 8 | ······// |
| Half a pleasure, half a grief; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thus all joy is somewhat tempered, | 8 | ····///˘ |
| And all sorrow finds relief. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Which, you ask me, is the real life, | 8 | ········ |
| Which the Dream--the joy, or woe? | 7 | ······· |
| Hush, friend! it is little matter, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And, indeed--I never know. | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
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.