Dream Land
Where sunless rivers weepTheir waves into the deep,She sleeps a charmed sleep:Awake her not.Led by a single star,She came from very farTo seek where shadows areHer pleasant lot.
She left the rosy morn,She left the fields of corn,For twilight cold and lornAnd water springs.Through sleep, as through a veil,She sees the sky look pale,And hears the nightingaleThat sadly sings.
Rest, rest, a perfect restShed over brow and breast;Her face is toward the west,The purple land.She cannot see the grainRipening on hill and plain;She cannot feel the rainUpon her hand.
Rest, rest, for evermoreUpon a mossy shore;Rest, rest at the heart's coreTill time shall cease:Sleep that no pain shall wake;Night that no morn shall breakTill joy shall overtakeHer perfect peace.
Words in this poem
- sunless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- lorn a.
- Lost; undone; ruined. [Strong p. p. of Lose. See Lose, Forlorn.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dream Land is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, Dream Land, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/dream-land.html, id L04239.
Form and metre
Dream Land is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AAABCCCB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AAABCCCB weepA · deepA · sleepA · notB · starC · farC · areC · lotB
- 2 AAABCCCB mornA · cornA · lornA · springsB · veilC · paleC · nightingaleC · singsB
- 3 AAABCCCB restA · breastA · westA · landB · grainC · plainC · rainC · handB
- 4 AAABCCCB evermoreA · shoreA · coreA · ceaseB · wakeC · breakC · overtakeC · peaceB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Where sunless rivers weep | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Their waves into the deep, | 6 | ······ |
| She sleeps a charmed sleep: | 5 | ····· |
| Awake her not. | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Led by a single star, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She came from very far | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To seek where shadows are | 6 | ···/·· |
| Her pleasant lot. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| She left the rosy morn, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She left the fields of corn, | 6 | ······ |
| For twilight cold and lorn | 6 | ·/···· |
| And water springs. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Through sleep, as through a veil, | 6 | ······ |
| She sees the sky look pale, | 6 | ······ |
| And hears the nightingale | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| That sadly sings. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Rest, rest, a perfect rest | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Shed over brow and breast; | 6 | ······ |
| Her face is toward the west, | 7 | ······· |
| The purple land. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| She cannot see the grain | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ripening on hill and plain; | 6 | /˘···· |
| She cannot feel the rain | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Upon her hand. | 4 | ···· |
| Rest, rest, for evermore | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Upon a mossy shore; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Rest, rest at the heart's core | 6 | ······ |
| Till time shall cease: | 4 | ···· |
| Sleep that no pain shall wake; | 6 | ······ |
| Night that no morn shall break | 6 | ······ |
| Till joy shall overtake | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Her perfect peace. | 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.